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Sustainable digital and litho print = beautiful print. Making more from less. EMAS certified. Proud moment. Improving quality. Reducing costs. Renewable energy. Carbon neutral. More trees. Less ink. Quality always. Print progressives.

Environmental Printer of the Year 2023 SME

Judges Summary: Generation Press is not just ahead of the curve on the environment, it is defining what the curve should look like. Carbon neutral for 14 years, and carbon positive for 10, it recycles an astonishing 99.6% of its waste, and has used vegetable inks since 2003. Earning B-Corp status in 2022, it immediately entered the top 5% of all B-Corp companies. Generation Press pushes sustainability throughout every fibre of its work, the quality of which won it our Book Printer of the year award in 2022. “They are not just shouting about offsetting,” said one judge, “they have thought holistically about sustainability and really live their values.”

We are B Corp (119.3)

Generation Press are proud to become part of the B Corp community. B Corp Status

With an environmental management score of 67.8, Generation Press has become a Best for the World – Being in the top 5% of all B Corps for Environmental practice. The Generation Press team are proud to have achieved an overall score of 119.3.

80 points are what is needed to enter the B Corp community. The median score for ordinary businesses who complete the assessment is 50.9.

We now understand just how thorough the B Corp process and assessment is, and we will certainly be proud to engage with any company that has achieved this mark.

Best For The World Environment 2022

“These companies are leading the way towards a more sustainable and regenerative planet by putting their impact on the air, climate, water, land, and biodiversity first in their business practices. These B Corps excel in environmental performance by offering products or services designed to solve an environmental issue or through their facilities, materials, emissions, and resource and energy use, as well as transportation/distribution channels and the environmental impact of their supply chain. Their focus on the planet as a vital stakeholder hasn’t gone unnoticed”.

We use solar power

When the sun shines the presses sing! *Locally generated solar power is supplied to our presses. *On the roof. A roof on the farm. Not our farm, the farm we are on! (sigh)

We use renewable energy

Aside from our solar power, the rest of our energy comes from Ecotricity, the world’s first green electricity company and still the most advanced. They invest more in creating renewable energy than all other UK suppliers put together. Like us, they’re EMAS certified. Their customer service is great. We’re on the 100% Green Energy tariff. Recommended.

We plant trees

Alder. Beech. Broom. Crab apple. Dogwood. Gorse. Hazel. Juniper. Lime. Maple. Rowan. Scots pine. Spindle. Sweet chestnut. Walnut. Wild cherry. Wild pear. Wild plum. Wych elm. Yew. So far, we’ve funded the planting of 6327 trees in the UK (Aug 2022)

We are carbon neutral - Since 2006

A zero carbon footprint is a good target because it focuses attention and makes you gather data. Our offsetting program funds the Sub-Saharan Africa Improved Water Infrastructure. Nearly a billion people worldwide do not have access to safe drinking water. This project provides clean drinking water to rural communities in Uganda and Malawi.

We use FSC® paper

The Forest Stewardship Council® certificate is the best guarantee that a product comes from a well-managed forest – the only one to be recommended by Greenpeace. The criteria are to conserve biological diversity and ancient forests, protect indigenous groups and combat climate change. Our FSC® Chain of Custody number is FSC® FSC C109654

We were EMAS

It was a proud day when we became an EMAS-certified company in March 2014. It’s not the certificate but what it inspired to and made us do. We had to examine every aspect of our business and fix even the tiniest things. No hiding place. Lots of lessons. It made us better printers. With the Brexit outcome, we have had to move on, but in doing so, we have developed further and now taken on the more encompassing B Corp aims and beliefs. We exceed standards and still comply with everything that EMAS gave us!

We use vegetable inks

They’re better for the planet and they’re better quality. We’ve been using them since the last millennium. We also use computer-to-plate technology that removes the need for toxic chemicals.