Leveraging Your Involvement in SGP

Use the following tips to market your commitment to sustainability.

  • Add the SGP logo on your website, in your email signature, and on your marketing materials. Logos were provided when your certification or community involvement was confirmed.
  • Include the SGP logo on booth graphics at trade shows
  • Tweet about your support for sustainability and other accomplishments using @SGPPartnership, #sustainableprinting, #printingforthefuture, and @<customernames>
  • Share information about your sustainability performance from the SGP Impact Tracker on your website and celebrate accomplishments with your employees
  • Highlight your sustainability performance using charts and data from the SGP Impact Tracker on your RFPs
  • Attach your one-page "Proof of Certification" to your RFPs
  • Include information about SGP activities in e-newsletters, magazines, and on social media
  • Provide space at events for SGP displays
  • Work with SGP Printers and encourage your existing non-certified printers to become SGP certified
  • Send us information about your sustainability accomplishments so that we can share them with our network
  • Include your support of sustainable printing and your status within the SGP community in your Sustainability Reports
  • Provide us with additional contacts within your company (for marketing, business development, and other teams) so that we can help your employees share the benefits of SGP

Banners

Share your involvement in SGP on the web, on your website or corporate responsibility page.


Brochures

Share SGP's programs with prospective community members.


Email Signatures

Remind your email recipients about your organization's involvement in SGP. Links to the HTML snippets for these email signatures can be found below.


Presentation

Customize or use this slide as-is to illustrate the importance of SGP in your marketing and other presentations.


SGP Vision & Mission

Vision - where SGP wants to go in the future.

SGP’s vision is to create a true circular economy within the print supply chain.

 Mission - what we want to accomplish in the near term

SGP’s mission is to make SGP certification the sustainability requirement of choice among printers, print buyers, and the larger print community 


Why SGP?

The Sustainable Green Printing Partnership (SGP)... 

  1. (for printers) ...is the print industry’s catalyst to increase business opportunities among brands committed to a sustainable supply chain and grow profits by reducing resource consumption and waste 
  2. (for print buyers) ...provides transparent, measurable assurance that our certified facilities will help print buyers meet and exceed sustainability goals 

Who is SGP?

SGP brings together a community of printers, print buyers, suppliers, and supporting organizations that work together to drive sustainable business practices that today’s customers demand. 


What is SGP?

The Sustainable Green Printing Partnership (SGP)...
(all options below can be used at this point)

  1. ...is the printing industry’s most advanced supply chain certification authority, driving profits, efficiency, and accountability for the world’s leading brands.
  2. ...has been the leader in sustainability standards for the printing industry for more than a decade
  3. ...promotes innovative best practices within the print supply chain through the industry’s most comprehensive sustainability certification.
  4. ...advocates best practices and innovation among print community stakeholders via the industry’s most rigorous sustainability certification, aligning the printing industry and its customers in the pursuit of a more accountable, sustainable supply chain.
  5. ....is the leading comprehensive sustainability certification organization for print facilities. SGP advocates best practices and innovation through a multi-attribute, publicly vetted third party certification that encourages reduction of environmental impact while increasing social responsibility.
  6. ...is the leading non-profit accreditation organization promoting sustainability in all printing processes throughout the United States and Canada. Endorsed by the SGIA, TLMI, FTA, and other industry groups, SGP advocates best practices and innovation among print community stakeholders in order to align the printing industry and its customers in the pursuit of a more accountable, sustainable supply chain.

What Does SGP Do?

We improve profitability and efficiency through our holistic sustainability certification program. Each certified SGP printer must commit to:

  • Reduce waste and hazardous materials
  • Conserve energy
  • Source sustainable materials
  • Lower its carbon footprint
  • Create a safer workplace
  • Conform to all relevant environmental, health, safety & labor laws
  • Adopt a comprehensive annual continuous improvement project
  • Undergo a third-party recertification audit every two years

SGP ensures that certified printers meet or exceed strict sustainability criteria in their manufacturing process, monitoring facilities’ progress using our Impact Tracker and conducting bi-annual third-party audits to ensure that print buyers realize the environmental and economic benefits of a true circular economy.


How is SGP Different from Other Certifications?

SGP certification is the only truly holistic sustainability criteria that exists within the print industry, and the only standard created by printers, for printers. Our certified printers must demonstrate best practices in the following areas for their entire facilities: 

  • Environmental Compliance 
  • Health and Safety Compliance
  • Labor Compliance
  • Efficient Use, Reduced Consumption and Recycling
  • Training on Use Handling and Management of Chemicals
  • Waste Minimization
  • Indoor Air Quality
  • Shipping Minimization

Each facility is audited by an independent third party on a bi-annual basis to ensure that its certification remains current. Printers track their progress against performance metrics via the SGP Impact Tracker. 

In addition, every certified printer commits to one continuing sustainability improvement project and provides annual reports on progress against those goals.


What is SGP's Impact?
  • SGP’s sustainability criteria have been adopted by industry leaders throughout the print supply chain, from the states of New York and Wisconsin, to household brands such as Wal-Mart and REI, to major industry trade groups such as the Flexographic Technical Association, the Tag and Label Manufacturer’s Institute, and the Specialty Graphics Imaging Association.
  • Collectively, SGP printers realize the following sustainability improvements each year (fueling an average annual savings of $2.3 million)

    • 78 tons of waste diverted from landfills
    • 76% increase in solvent recycling 
    • 367kw/hour yearly energy reduction (a savings of $25,000/year)
    • 2.42 ton reduction in greenhouse gas emissions

What Does SGP Do?

We improve profitability and efficiency through our holistic sustainability certification program. Each certified SGP printer must commit to:

  • Reduce waste and hazardous materials
  • Conserve energy
  • Source sustainable materials
  • Lower its carbon footprint
  • Create a safer workplace
  • Conform to all relevant environmental, health, safety & labor laws
  • Adopt a comprehensive annual continuous improvement project
  • Undergo a third-party recertification audit every two years

SGP ensures that certified printers meet or exceed strict sustainability criteria in their manufacturing process, monitoring facilities’ progress using our Impact Tracker and conducting bi-annual third-party audits to ensure that print buyers realize the environmental and economic benefits of a true circular economy.


Please email sgpprogram@sgppartnership.org with any questions or suggestions.