Boys’ Life goes green

MAGAZINE PROMOTES ENVIRONMENTAL LEADERSHIP WITH SUSTAINABLE FORESTRY INITIATIVE® FOREST CERTIFICATION

In keeping with Scouting’s Outdoor Code to be conservation-minded, Boys’ Life magazine has taken a significant step in environmental leadership by achieving certification with the Sustainable Forestry Initiative (SFI), an organization dedicated to promoting sustainable forest management.

With more than 154 million acres certified across North America, the SFI program is one of the largest in the world, with a standard based on principles and measures that promote responsible environmental behavior and sound forest management. These measures include those to protect water quality, biodiversity, wildlife habitat, species at risk and forests of exceptional conservation value.

As part of its certification, the Boys’ Life supply chain will undergo annual surveillance audits as well as full certification against the SFI Standard every five years, conducted by independent, accredited certification bodies. All audit reports are published on the SFI program’s Website at www.sfiprogram.org.

Boys’ Life and its printing partners at Quad/Graphics, in keeping with a strict policy of environmental responsibility, go beyond what the SFI Standard requires. Quad/Graphics also has earned certifications from the world’s other two leading forest management programs: the Forest Stewardship Council and the Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification.

Additionally, Quad/Graphics exercises environmental stewardship in its solvent waste recovery, renewable content and transportation practices. The company recovers 100 percent of the solvent-laden air resulting from printing processes. In 2006 (latest statistics), the solvent recovery systems in its gravure pressrooms averaged 99.53 percent efficiency, considerably above the standard 92 percent required by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the 96.76 percent industry average.

EnviroTech inks are used to print all of Quad/Graphic’s domestic products, including Boys’ Life. To earn the EnviroTech label, an ink must meet the following requirements:
20 percent or greater renewable resource content or 50 percent or greater recycled content or volatile organic compound limit of 20 percent.

Further, Quad/Graphics was the first printer to join the SmartWay Transport Partnership, which was introduced by the EPA to reduce fuel use, greenhouse gas emissions and air pollutants from the freight sector. This partnership has led to efficiencies that in 2007 prevented more than 12,658 tons of carbon dioxide emissions, the equivalent of taking 2,485 passenger cars off the road for one year.

For more information about the SFI program, visit www.sfiprogram.org. For more information about Quad/Graphics environmental initiatives, visit www.qg.com/aboutus/environment/default.asp