A local print firm has become the first commercial printing company in Northern Ireland to be accredited under the rules of the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC).

Belfast-based GPS Colour Graphics Ltd is continuing its impressive environmental campaign to become the first printers on the island of Ireland to be both Carbon Neutral and hold the FSC certificate.

GPS can now provide high quality print jobs that can be traced through all the steps of the production process back to sustainable, managed forests.

"This is great news for GPS Colour Graphics. The certification demonstrates our commitment to sustainability. FSC certified paper tells you that the recycled or virgin fibre content of the paper comes from sources that meet FSC international standards," commented Helen McClay, GPS's Business Development Director.

FSC is the fastest growing and only certification system in the world supported by environmental organisations such as the World Wildlife Fund; Rain Forest Alliance; Greenpeace; Woodland Trust and Friends of the Earth.

Helen stated: "GPS Colour Graphics is now the first and only commercial printing company in Northern Ireland to have been certified with the FSC accreditation.

"Our clients can now rest assured that by choosing GPS for their FSC print projects they are guaranteed that the paper comes from sustainable sources and has met the highest possible social and environmental standards in forestry.

"By using FSC certified products, GPS and its clients are providing incentives for responsible forestry and can be confident that their print projects are not contributing to the destruction of the world's forests," she added.

"One of the main benefits to clients is that the FSC label can appear on literature that is printed on FSC paper, meaning that our clients can demonstrate their commitment to the environment.

"We felt the time was right for GPS to work towards FSC accreditation and to continue to build on our existing 'green' credentials."

This most recent success has complimented an already award winning environmental policy. Having industry standard ISO 14001 and achieving Carbon Neutral Status in 2006 as well as investing heavily in environmentally friendly printing equipment, justifies the title of three time winner of the Irish Print Awards Environmental Printer of the Year and a highly prestigious Stem Award.

It is a massive achievement for the local firm given that due to increased consumer awareness of environmental issues, many multinational firms such as Virgin, B&Q, Marks and Spencer and American Express are already aligning themselves with FSC.

"We have invested heavily in our environmental policy and it has meant that the entire workforce have had to sign up to our approach.

"The FSC status has meant that every member of staff have had to be trained in the Chain of Custody process in order to verify the product has come from approved sources," explained Jim Burrows, GPS Environmental Officer, pictured here with Helen McClay, Business Development Director, GPS Colour Graphics.

(BMcC)