In a Celebratory Mood
- Published: April 01, 2008, By Yolanda Simonsis Associate Publisher/Editor
As promised in last month's column, here are some official comments from Wayne Pferdehirt, co-director and chair of the judging committee of the Printers' National Environmental Assistance Ctr. (PNEAC), upon bestowing on PFFC its Publication of the Year award in the Book/Collection National Publication category:
“When we established the PNEAC Publication of the Year Award last year, our goal was to affirm and give valued recognition to the efforts of authors, editors, and publishers who make important contributions to the ability of printers to understand and act in ways that improve their environmental performance. Uniformly the judges praised PFFC's Green Converting issue as an exceptional example of what we hoped to identify and honor. We do know that a publication like this takes tremendous work, and only succeeds as a labor of love. Kudos to you and the entire team!”
Two other publication awards also were presented at the awards ceremony on March 11 during the National Environmental Health & Safety Conference, “Green Pathways to Sustainability,” at the Sheraton City Ctr. Hotel, Indianapolis, IN (also see p18). Pferdehirt noted, “PNEAC is extremely pleased to recognize the excellent contributions each of the three winning publications has made to advance the practice of green, sustainable practices within the printing industry. Judges were impressed with how each of the winning publications provided clear, practical guidance for printers seeking to improve environmental performance to meet marketplace, cost, and regulatory challenges.”
After hearing the good news, I commented to PNEAC that I believed the subject of sustainability is a topic that “will continue, with valued justification, to remain high in consumers' and manufacturers' minds.” More importantly, “When a marriage of philosophy with monetary reality takes place, I believe we will make a truly sustainable impact on our Mother Earth. And PFFC will be there to continue providing information to its readers on how to best achieve this objective in an efficient, productive, profitable, and knowledgeable manner.”
To continue PFFC's thorough coverage on sustainability, this year I added two questions to our annual Critical Trends survey that already has been sent to our electronic subscribers. The first question asks how sustainability efforts by survey participants' companies impacted sales in 2007; and the second question asked how the costs of their companies' sustainability efforts impacted businesses in 2007. Since this will be the first time these questions have been asked across all industry segments, the results not only should be interesting, but next year when we again perform this study, it should be especially revealing on a comparative basis.
Survey results will be published in June, and to our knowledge, this is the only study conducted across all industry segments for comparative use in flexible packaging; unprinted rolls and sheets (including coated substrates); tapes, labels and tags; and paperboard packaging. Thanks to your involvement, PFFC's readers will have the unique advantage to compare their performance against those in allied converting industries as they are challenged to become more profitable, efficient, productive, and knowledgeable about their businesses.
Last, but not least, I am taking this space, unashamedly, for a very selfish reason, to share with all my subscriber friends some very personal and joyous news. (Hey, as our great late Mayor Daley was quoted, “If you can't help your own family, who can you help?”)
And so, I announce to the world that my dear grandmother has achieved quite a milestone: Bernice Irene Lawler turns 100 years old on April 14. Even at the spry age of 100, she has a goal, which teaches us all something about life. Her mother told her she'd live to 105. Knowing Grandma, she just might make it! And Grandma shares a singular bit of Chicago history with the year 1908 when she was born: It was the last time the Cubs won the World Series! Maybe Grandma will share some of her good luck with the Cubs this year!
My friends call me…
What sustainability efforts has your company made? Write to me at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
