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Choose to print responsibly for today ... for future generations

John Roberts’ FSC certification links you to environmental stewardship

The John Roberts Company is proud to announce that it has recently been certified as a Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) Chain-of-Custody company through SmartWood, an FSC-accredited body.

FSC Chain-of-Custody certification is a verification process that assures a finished wood-based product in the marketplace has been handled only by companies that have also been certified to the FSC standards.

In other words, it certifies that your paper – likely the largest material factor and greatest expense of your print project – has been handled in an environmentally friendly manner in each manufacturing step, from raw forest material to the final printed piece.

The John Roberts Company sought the certification as part of a larger, long-standing initiative supporting environmental stewardship. “John Roberts has always been proud of its commitment to managing its operation in an environmentally sound manner,” says Connie O’Keefe, Manager. “That corporate philosophy, coupled with the desire of our customers to use environmentally responsible products, made the decision to pursue FSC-certification a natural step.”

What FSC certification means to you

We respect that many of our customers wish to use natural resources efficiently, through well-managed processes that result in minimal waste. By using FSC-certified paper, you can be confident that your project’s materials were manufactured in an environmentally responsible, socially beneficial and economically viable manner.

Going forward

FSC certification agreements by SmartWood are written for a five-year period. To maintain certification, John Roberts must undergo an annual on-site audit to ensure that Chain-of-Custody procedures are being followed for the handling, processing and labeling of certified forest products.

“As an ISO 9001 company, the requirements for establishing procedures, training and reporting were already well-defined within our organization. The internal changes are simply an adjustment to identifying and reporting on products that are already being used at John Roberts,” O’Keefe says.

Certification allows us to use the FSC logo, which requires a strict standard of compliance. Watch for this logo on future JR communications, signage and labels.

The global benchmark for responsible forEst management

Much of our labeling and signage will carry variations of the FSC logo.

John Roberts has received the following honors and distinctions related to our environmental initiatives:

• The Green Star Award, 1997
• Best Workplace in America 2004
• Best of the Best 2000, 2001,2002, 2003
• Governor’s Award for Excellence in Waste & Pollution Prevention 1992, 1997
• Minnesota Environmental Initiative Award 2000
• Industrial Environmental Achievement Award 2002
• Member, PIM Great Printer Environmental Initiative
• Member, Minnesota Waste Wise
• Partner, Clean Air Minnesota

Respecting the environment – an ongoing initiative at JR

Green is not a fad color at John Roberts – it’s a corporate commitment. Our long-standing Environmental Policy expresses our values of stewardship and responsibility to the earth and its atmosphere:

In the late 1980s, John Roberts established an Environmental & Safety Committee in response to growing concerns about air emissions from petroleum-based inks, wetting agents and cleaning solvents, as well as water discharges from the processing of graphic arts films. The Committee instituted procedures resulting
in the recovery and recycling of solvents, the use of substitutes for isopropyl alcohol as a wetting agent, and silver recovery and wash water recirculation systems.

In 1993, the John Roberts Company implemented an Environmental Management System. Modified to conform to ISO 14000 requirements, it defines our environmental impacts and outlines steps to minimize or eliminate them.

Our early efforts to voluntarily seek environmental auditing, corrective action and public disclosure led to a partnership between the Printing Industry of Minnesota and the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency, and eventually became the model for Minnesota’s Green Star Program. The John Roberts Company was one of the first to have achieved Minnesota Green Star status in 1997, and has renewed this status regularly.

“Our environmental initiatives are an important part of our business objectives,” says Dan Erikstrup, Vice President of Operations/Human Resources. “In addition to reducing our impact on the environment, we also continuously strive to minimize risk to the company and its employees, help ensure our future success and that of our customers, and set the pace as an environmental leader in the industry.” 

FSC Chain-of-Custody certification and participation in Windsource are John Roberts’ most recent endeavors to better manage our resources. Your sales rep is available to discuss additional ways we can work together to help ensure your projects achieve your business goals while keeping our environment safe and well-managed for future generations.

The John Roberts Company is committed to managing all of its operations in an environmentally sound manner.

We involve our employees, our suppliers and our customers in the principle that to conduct business at the expense of the environment around us is simply unacceptable.

Through awareness, understanding, education and action, we are minimizing our intrusion on the environment.

Windsource® – a renewable energy option for our customers

Customers of John Roberts have an opportunity to choose a greener energy path for future print orders. Through Windsource, Xcel Energy’s green pricing program, JR is able to purchase “blocks” of electricity generated through wind power each month.

As a customer, you may now indicate that you want your jobs run using electricity from wind power, and we will purchase a corresponding amount of wind-generated energy.

What’s the benefit of wind power?

Wind power is a form of “green power;” that is, electricity generated from renewable, high-efficiency or low-pollution energy sources. By participating in a green power program such as Windsource, you’re helping to benefit our environment:

The John Roberts Company is an EPA Green Power Partner. By buying green power, Partners choose to support power sources that improve the environment.

• You decrease the use of more traditional fuel sources, such as coal and nuclear energy, thereby decreasing the pollution caused by their use.
• You contribute to the development and increased use of wind power, a renewable energy source. Wind energy produces no air, water or land emissions, and no carbon dioxide emissions.

“The green power option gives customers who have environmental concerns an alternative energy source,” says John Roberts President Michael Keene. “We can certify that we’ve purchased Windsource energy on their behalf.”

How does the Windsource program work?

John Roberts’ customers can indicate they want their jobs run on wind power; John Roberts, in turn, will purchase additional Windsource energy, sold in 100-kilowatt-hour (kWh) blocks. The wind energy is fed into the power company’s electric grid along with electricity from conventionally generated resources. As more customers sign up, more wind turbines are brought online and the proportion of electricity generated by renewable sources increases.

Although it isn’t possible to separate energy by sources, you are participating in the production of goods made in part with renewable energy. The dollar investment is relatively small (adding about 2% to a typical job’s cost), yet you’re encouraging power companies to invest more in wind farms in Minnesota, making green power more common and more affordable. “We’ve made the decision to buy enough wind power for all of our internal print projects,” Keene says. “We believe it demonstrates community environmental leadership for every participating company.”

To learn more about Windsource for your future projects, contact your JR sales rep.