April 27, 2021
Copycat

On being an environmentally responsible business

With Earth Day 4/22/21 just behind us, we thought it would be appropriate to address the ways in which Copycat tries to be as environmentally responsible as possible.

In the world of printing…

…lots of paper gets used on a daily basis. From cartons of 8.5”x11” to dozens of rolls of 36”x650’, Copycat does a lot of copying and printing used as marketing collateral, business forms and stationery, construction documents, business cards, invitations and note cards, brochures, programs, posters, wallpaper . . . really, the list is rather extensive.

Throughout our production process, effort is made to collect excess paper that can be recycled rather than simply tossing it into the trash. In fact, we have more recycling bins – for which we pay additional fees – than we have trash cans. Any acceptable plastic containers or aluminum drink cans also go into recycling, as well as broken down cardboard boxes.

There are folks who like to say they operate a paperless business, seemingly making a statement about the number of trees not being sacrificed. Fair enough; they’re certainly doing their part for Planet Earth. That said, we would like you encourage to take a look at this ‘fun facts’ link, courtesy of the American Forest & Paper Association; it provides good insight into paper with a little historical perspective (i.e., tree farming to make paper isn’t as bad as some may think).

https://www.afandpa.org/our-industry/fun-facts

Other ways to conserve

During the renovation of our mid-century modern facility on South Kerr Ave, we replaced on fluorescent lighting with LED lighting, as well as adding windows for natural lighting. Our offices and break room have motion sensors for the overhead lights so that when the rooms are not occupied, the lights are not in use. LED lighting is easier on our eyes which is better for our team’s health (translates into better printing for y’all), is more accurate when color correcting and we’re saving energy, too.

Often overlooked but never ignored

Overlooked isn’t the correct word choice in this case. The fact is, it’s not easy to see our 36 solar panels installed on the roof of our shop.

It was a huge leap of faith to install solar panels because they weren’t a line item in our construction budget. However, when it was determined that the roof received more than 95% sun exposure from sunrise to sunset, the answer seemed obvious: the installation has meant that Copycat is the only commercial printer in the area utilizing solar panels*.

When originally discussed pre-renovation, our anticipated savings in energy was approximately 25%. With the building renovation completed, these solar panels are providing closer to 50% of the energy required to run our equipment. The added expense of installing solar panels will pay for itself in less than 7 years in terms of payments to the power company, plus we’re reducing our carbon footprint at the same time.

Box it up

Finally, while we could go to additional expense for marketing / branding purposes and order boxes with our name and logo, we diligently reuse paper cartons when packaging your orders for pick-up, delivery or shipping. Yeah, we know, it’s not as fancy but in the vein of reduce/recycle/reuse, ♻️ it’s one more small effort we can make.