Comprehensive recycling, water conservation and energy management programs are among the environmental efforts that helped Quad/Graphics' Hartford, Wis., manufacturing facility achieve Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification, Silver rating, from the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC).
The new LEED certification means Quad/Graphics (NYSE: QUAD) now has more than 3.2 million square feet of LEED-certified space. Quad/Graphics' Hartford plant is the company's second facility to qualify for LEED certification. In 2009 the printer's corporate headquarters and plant in Sussex, Wis., received the LEED for Existing Buildings Silver rating, making Quad/Graphics the first major printer to achieve any level of LEED certification for a manufacturing site.
The 1.6-million-square-foot Hartford plant opened in 1992 also qualified for the LEED for Existing Buildings certification. The facility has more than 900 employees and houses 50 pieces of heavy printing equipment, including an array of high-tech, high-speed web offset presses supported by perfect binders, saddle stitchers and polywrappers for finishing printed products.
"Our Hartford plant's LEED certification is another step in our quest to become an environmental leader of not just the print industry, but of all industries," said Quad/Graphics Chairman, President & CEO Joel Quadracci. "Our company's long-standing approach is simple: We believe doing what's good for the environment is also good for business, so we make business decisions that are both environmentally responsible and sustainable. We plan to continue to build our environmental record and LEED certification is a key element of our strategy."
LEED Certification and the Hartford PlantLEED is a voluntary green building rating system developed by USGBC, a nonprofit group that promotes sustainable building practices. There are four levels of certification available -- Certified, Silver, Gold and Platinum -- for meeting criteria in five specific areas: 1) sustainable site development; 2) water efficiency; 3) energy efficiency; 4) materials and resource selection; and 5) indoor environmental quality. In addition, the USGBC recognizes innovations beyond those prescribed in the LEED rating system. Quad/Graphics' Hartford plant earned extra points for offering proactive environmental education programs for employees, such as Eco Driving and Sustainable Purchasing; for the type of low-mercury fluorescent bulbs it uses; and for exemplary recycling performance for efforts like the plant cafeteria's coffee-cup refunds, which keeps thousands of styrofoam cups out of landfills.
Quad/Graphics met many of the USGBC's rigorous criteria for LEED certification because of long-established environmental programs and practices, including:
More information about the company's practical approach to environmentalism can be found at its Web site: http://www.QG.com/aboutus/environment (http://www.qg.com/aboutus/environment) .
About Quad/Graphics Quad/Graphics (NYSE: QUAD) is a global provider of print and related multichannel solutions for consumer magazines, special interest publications, catalogs, retail inserts and circulars, direct mail products, books and directories. Headquartered in Sussex, Wis. (just west of Milwaukee), the company has approximately 28,000 employees working from more than 80 locations throughout the United States, Canada, Latin America and Europe. As a printing industry innovator, Quad/Graphics (www.QG.com (http://www.QG.com) ) is redefining the power of print in today's multimedia world by helping its clients use print as the foundation of multichannel communications strategies to drive their top-line revenues.
