Suffolk printer gains first South East fully carbon-balanced status

Commercial print firm Fuller Davies has attracted a "staggering amount" of clients by becoming south east England's first fully carbon-balanced printer.

Fifteen current clients and at least one new customer have signed up with Fuller Davies to have conservation charity World Land Trusts’ (WLT) logo on their products, which include a wide range of brochures and catalogues.

Fuller Davies has bought land in the Amazon rainforest through WLT to save it from clearance and to allow woodland to continue to absorb carbon from the atmosphere, therefore keeping carbon emissions down.

The company ensures all paper is sourced from managed forest areas, such as Scandinavia, rather than from "new" rainforests; 99% of paper bought is regulated by the FSC and Fuller Davies calculates its carbon footprint to ensure that land conservation and energy savings made by its suppliers offset emissions.

The Ipswich-based print firm has a track record of green practices, with full FSC accreditation, ISO 14001 status and the Suffolk Carbon Charter Silver award, but work with the WLT has boosted Fuller Davies to become the UK’s fourth fully carbon-balanced print firm.

Fuller Davies sales director James Robinson said: "The world is telling us to cut our carbon emissions and we do our bit to help make the world a better place. Clients like to know that they are also helping.

"We have had a staggering amount of customers sign up since we started talking about it last week. Every job of ours is carbon balanced, but a lot of clients have asked for the WLT logo to be printed on their products.

"Hopefully this status will attract even more clients as it gets more attention."

Fuller Davies’ interest follows WLT studies showing that nearly two thirds of UK consumers are more likely to buy from a business that they think is actively addressing the issue of climate change.

Managing director Neil Stones added: "As a company we have always been committed to ensuring that only sustainable and ethically sourced paper is used for all print jobs.

"Becoming fully carbon balanced is the ideal way for us to minimise our impact on the environment as emissions released during the whole production processes can now be taken into account and offset."