How We're Green
We love that our artists care enough about the environment to ask about the “green-ness” of our products. Feel free to call Kate, Carrie or Mark to discuss this further. Here is a quick summary of just some of our green initiatives:
- Our fine art papers and canvases are selected to be resistant to light fading. You can expect our papers to last from 70 to 200 years. Now that’s pretty earth friendly!
- Our fine art papers are made from either cotton or bamboo, both recyclable.
- Our Bamboo Papers, made from the easily replenished bamboo plant, are planted and harvested by farmers in Thailand who are contracted by Hahnemühle, our paper supplier. Our cotton papers are made from cotton waste created by the textile industry. Neither our bamboo nor cotton papers are processed using chlorine.
- We use “soft-proofing” wherever practical to color correct images. This requires no paper.
- The aqueous spray we use on our canvas prints contains no volatile organic compounds (VOCs) which can be harmful and toxic.
- We have always far exceeded the EPA’s standards for our water quality (refuse water from our photo printing process).
- The Fort Collins, Colorado Chamber of Commerce awarded Fine Print Imaging the Environmental Business Award in 2009.
- Every scrap of recyclable paper is saved and recycled - much of it through, re-use by making “Art Packs” for our customers and students.
- Fine Print’s entire facility is powered 100% by Green Power through the Fort Collins, Colorado, Green Energy Program. See the article at the end of this list for details about Green Power.
- We are E-Green certified.
- We participate at the 100% EPA Green Partnership level.
- We purchase from as few suppliers as possible to minimize our shipping carbon footprint.
- We offer incentives for customers who pick up their orders and request minimal packaging (especially if they arrive in their electric car!)
- Our entire Art for Conservation program is designed to promote conservation.
- As a founding member and partner of the North American Nature Photography Association, we initiated the Philip Hyde Conservation Grant which annually gives $5,000 to a photographer who is using his or her photography to help preserve the planet.
- We partner closely with the International League of Conservation Photographers, and a host of other conservation artists and organizations, providing funding, services and gallery space to promote their efforts to further environmental and cultural conservation through photography and art.
- We sponsor the Art for Conservation Grant, a $2500 printing services grant through Art for Conservation. The Grant goes to a photographer, artist or an organization who demonstrates the need for printing services to support their cause and upholds the highest of standards in pursuit of a conservation initiative.
Check back often to keep track of our Green Programs.
Green Power - Expressing our passion for doing things right
Through our 32 years of working with wildlife and nature photographers as well as artists, Fine Print has long held a special reverence for and commitment to, the natural world.
As part of that commitment, we switched to 100 % green power for our energy needs in May, 2007. In making this commitment, we have also become an EPA Green Power Partner and joined a growing list of companies across the country who are dedicated to reducing air pollution and carbon dioxide emissions through the use of renewable energy resources rather than fossil fuels.
We are proud to be one of 3 companies in Fort Collins and 26 in Colorado currently listed as Green Power Partners and are confident that the number will only continue to grow in the coming months and years .
What is green power?
The term “green power” describes electricity that is generated from renewable energy sources with low environmental impacts. EPA’s Green Power Partnership uses green power definitions developed by the Green-e renewable energy certification program. Administered by the non-profit Center for Resource Solutions, Green -e is the most widely accepted green power standard in the marketplace. In general, Green-e eligible resources include:
- Wind Energy
- Solar Electric
- Geothermal
- Biomass: organic material, including wood and wood waste, agricultural residues (plant
and animal waste), methane from landfills and digester gas (but excluding the burning of municipal solid waste) - Eligible hydro-electric power (30MW or less, or hydro-electric power that is certified by the Low-Impact Hydro Institute)
Interested in finding out more?
www.green-e.org
www.lowimpacthydro.org
www.epa.gov/greenpower
www.fcgov.com/conservation/green-energy.php
