WOO creates Global Sustainability Task Force

The World Out of Home Organization is creating a Global Sustainability Task Force, to be led by blowUp media CEO and WOO board member Katrin Robertson.

“Sustainability is one of the most pressing issues facing advertisers and media owners and it’s important that ‘out of home’ (OOH), as such a visible and public medium, takes a proactive stance,” said Robertson. “The Task Force is designed to help the whole industry take the initiative on sustainability so it becomes an engine for growth rather than an impediment.”

Among the task force’s duties will be: positioning OOH (with a particular emphasis on DOOH) positively, including a database of constructive evidence and relevant information sources; sharing best practice on how companies and other WOO members can successfully implement sustainability into the heart of the business; advice on organising a sustainability team; advice on engaging appropriate consultants with recommendations by region and country; guidance on potential costs; collating real Net Zero Initiatives, mission statements, in-house activities and action

Premier Paper continues on acquisition streak

Premier Paper Group has acquired GPMI, a paper merchant established in the Irish market supplying both the commercial print and sign and display sectors. With warehouses and offices in Dublin and Belfast, GPMI has a turnover of around 28m Euro and 50 employees.

The move follows swiftly on from Premier Paper’s acquisition of retail display and packaging company

WBC as part of its mission to expand into further added value sectors. That in turn complements the group’s purchase of lamination film supplier Zulu Packaging (Now Premier Lamination Films) in July 2022.

Ireland-based WBC - which was established in 1989 and has a turnover of £18m - is a packaging and display product supplier to the speciality drinks

Sustainability at heart of newly opened Fujifilm House

Fujifilm has officially opened Fujifilm House, its new UK headquarters in Bedford. Sustainability considerations were integral to the new building’s design, as underlined by the 2787m2 site’s BREEAM environmental rating.

In designing the new building - which is a short distance from where Fujifilm operations had been located since 1983 - Fujifilm worked with the Wildlife Trust for Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire and Northamptonshire, one of its corporate charity partners, to keep the environment around the UK HQ site as habitable as possible for plants, wildlife and animals.

In addition, the site’s 80 rooftop solar panels are able to generate up to 63,000 kW of electricity each year, saving 29 tonnes of CO2 emissions annually. On a sunny day, they collectively generate enough electricity to sustain the building without needing to draw energy from the grid.

Meanwhile, the site’s interior is fitted out with intelligent LED lights, which are triggered by motion sensors, turning on when they detect movement and remaining off when rooms are empty. The temperature in the main areas of the building is maintained with a centrally controlled comfort cooling system, which is turned off overnight.

To accommodate Fujifilm’s evolving company fleet, as well as anticipating the shift away from fossil fuel-

MacroArt invests for stronger, greener growth

MacroArt has invested over £500,000 in a raft of new hardware and software solutions at its production hub in St. Neots, Cambridgeshire, to support its drive to deliver increased productivity and sustainability in 2023.

The company has added several key pieces of equipment to its plant list, including the UK’s first Durst P5 Tex iSub dye-sub machine, a Mimaki UCJV300 and a 1.6m-wide Canon 1650 UV gel printer. It has also invested in operational software that streamlines and optimises all areas of print production to maximise efficiency and minimise waste within the business.

Linking directly into the recently installed Durst Lift ERP system are a new Enfocus Switch Pitstop server and Tillia Labs Phoenix AI software systems to deliver a host of efficiencies, from instant artwork checking/resolution and rapid, accurate proofing, to ganging up of print jobs, higher productivity, and reduced downtime.

The new software programmes are tied together using visual flows, allowing for a seamless processing of artwork files directly from MacroArt’s ERP system via an API set up through to the Rip stage of the production process, all without the need for manual intervention. The company said this bespoke system is already delivering positive results in many key areas of production.

MacroArt is seeing significant reductions in material, energy and ink wastage through the efficient ganging and collating of multiple projects, and in turn, this efficiency is reducing lead times points; creating a regularly updated database of industry innovation; analysing and improving WOO’s own carbon footprint; and formulating a ‘Global Guidelines’ document for WOO members.

WOO’s own Sustainability Survey will also become an annual event canvassing views from all sides of the industry.

WOO President Tom Goddard said: “Sustainability is top of the agenda in all aspects of media and marketing right now and it’s vital that WOO helps its members make their case to advertisers and legislators.” and food sectors. It will remain unchanged, with the current management team and all 55 employees retained to ensure the continuity of customer/ supplier relationships and to facilitate future growth. powered vehicles, the car park at Fujifilm House has 16 charging points and there is capacity to provide double this number in the future as demand grows. for clients, with increases in output by as much as 150% being regularly achieved, on top of the reduced wastage.

The Premier Paper Group had a turnover of £187m in 2021 and is part of OVOL Japan Pulp and Paper Co. which operates in 21 countries with a turnover of $5bn.

A continued part of operating sustainably at Fujifilm House involves reducing waste and recycling. A waste sorting system enables rubbish to be sorted into general waste, printer cartridges, plastics and cans, and paper and cardboard.

Fujifilm has also taken steps to keep its UK headquarters clean and tidy in an eco-friendly manner - the toilets are flushed with rainwater and toilet paper is made from recycled material. Even the toilet roll dispensers are made from recycled Tetra Pak packaging.

Mark Rose, MacroArt’s operations director, said: “At MacroArt, our forward planning is as much about delivering a truly sustainable result, as it is about enhancing productivity, and with these considerable technical additions in both our hardware and software capabilities, we are achieving both.”

This commitment to true, measurable enhancements in sustainability is supported by MacroArt’s recently announced initiative to provide, in conjunction with the services of its Waste Management Partner Prismm, a complete ‘end to end’ recycling service for all clients that order graphics for use at the ICE event at Excel in 2023.