The Label Printers Wins Environmental Awards

AURORA, IL, November 29, 2012 (Press-News.org) The Label Printers has won two prestigious awards for their efforts in making the company's operations more environmentally sound and sustainable. The company has won TLMI's (Tag and Label Manufacturers Institute) Environmental Leadership Award and the State of Illinois' Governor's Sustainability Award.

Bill Kane, Chief Executive of The Label Printers congratulated the L.I.F.E. [Label Initiative For the Environment ] team (George Tommasi, Gina Ries, and Dawn Tesch) for all of their efforts. "What started out as a day of dumpster diving [to find and categorize waste] is now a successful program, and a real achievement."

TLMI explains that their Environmental Leadership Awards "recognizes member companies that have consistently demonstrated a commitment to progressive environmental practices across a range of areas including solid waste reduction, recycling, waste or energy recovery, the implementation of new 'clean' technology and/or processes, and the implementation of an education program."

"The Governor's Sustainability Award is presented to organizations in Illinois that have demonstrated a commitment to environmental excellence through outstanding and innovative sustainability practices that will also save money and help the economy." Said Manohar Kulkarni, ISTC [Illinois Sustainable Technology Center] Director, "These businesses and organizations have shown that it is possible to create and maintain conditions under which people and the environment can exist in productive harmony, and fulfill the social and economic requirements of present and future generations."

The Label Printers is a Certified Member of TLMI's L.I.F.E. program. "L.I.F.E. is based on the ISO 14001 standard and includes many of the same elements (continuous improvement, management review, preventive maintenance, corrective and preventive action, etc.)," explains George Tommasi (Director of Human Resources, The Label Printer's Illinois EPA Compliance Representative, and the L.I.F.E. team leader.). "We're very proud of what we, as a company, have been able to achieve in such a short time. We feel that it is a credit to every employee that we have been able to do so."

Gina Ries, Quality Assurance Supervisor, thought about what these awards mean to the company. "The thing that struck me is that it's nice to win awards - but it really shows the commitment and teamwork of the employees. And it's also nice to have something like this to offer to our customers." Dawn Tesch, Purchasing Expediter, echoed, "The Sustainability Team couldn't have achieved these prestigious awards without the help and dedication from each and every employee." She also felt that the company was mindful of the fact that it is important to continually make improvements in the sustainability program.

Lori Campbell, Chief of Operations, also takes great pride in these accomplishments, but points out "Even though these are company awards, I'm very proud of the L.I.F.E. team specifically, because they've taken something from ground zero and made an impact within the first year." Campbell feels that winning both awards has set the company apart in a very positive way. "Lots of companies talk about being "sustainable" and "environmentally friendly" - but these awards help us demonstrate that our people walk the talk. And that's of value to many of our customers."

Says Ries, "I was thinking when we went to the ISTC Awards presentation, that this is where it started. When we were first researching how to put together our sustainability program, we took some ISTC seminars - and now, after just our first full year with our L.I.F.E. program, we're winning awards. I thought that was pretty cool."

The Label Printers Sustainability Policy and current Dashboard may be found on the company's web site at: http://TheLabelPrinters.com/Sustainability/policy.php.

"We're not a Fortune 500 company," Campbell points out. "But our program and the awards that we've won demonstrate that everybody can make a difference - and that's encouraging." She adds, "Being good stewards of our resources, winning awards, and saving money - all at the same time - that's a triple whammy."

Some of the results of TLP's L.I.F.E. Program:
• 28 tractor-trailer loads of material have been diverted from landfill and have instead become Waste-to-Energy (W2E) feedstock for coal-fired power plants.
• Water use has been reduced by 41%.
• VOC emissions have decreased by 49%.

About THE LABEL PRINTERS:
The Label Printers, Aurora, IL, started in business in 1967, manufacturing simple label constructions in a 1,000 square foot space, with 1 employee, serving the local Chicago market.

Today, the company has evolved into one of the 100 largest converters in the United States. The Label Printers owns and operates two facilities in Aurora, Illinois, manufacturing and distributing labels and packaging products to thousands of customers in 25 countries around the world. The company's packaging products are certified to ISO 9001 standards, and their quality is backed up by their 99.6% Quality Acceptance Rating.

The Label Printers is a member of NASPO (North American Security Products Organization), CACP (Coalition Against Counterfeiting and Piracy), TLMI (Tag and Label Manufacturers Institute) and the FTA (Flexographic Technical Association).

About the Tag and Label Manufacturers Institute, Inc.:
TLMI, located in Gloucester, Massachusetts, is a member-driven association strongly committed to providing business solutions that enhance the prosperity of its members and the narrow web tag, label, and packaging industries. The organization's vision is to be the premier member-driven association for the label and packaging industry.

TLMI's goal in creating the L.I.F.E. Program was to offer an audited certification process tailored specifically to the narrow web printing and converting industry. Examples of elements that companies address in undergoing the L.I.F.E. certification process include the recycle-compatibility of adhesives; the source and destination of liner materials and how narrow web companies are driving recycling programs for these materials; and material construction light-weighting (adopting thinner constructions that generate less waste). Front office issues are also addressed such as total energy utilization, where that energy is coming from and what a business is doing to actively reduce its overall carbon footprint.
In addition to the L.I.F.E. program, TLMI offers their members a wide range of reports that focus on key industry indices, real-time economic analysis, and benchmarking metrics - these include a Financial Benchmarking/Ratio Analysis, Compensation Analysis, and Quarterly Trends.

TLMI has grown from an original group of 19 founding members to hundreds of supplier and converter members. The organization celebrated their Diamond Anniversary in 2008.

About the Illinois Sustainable Technology Center/Prairie Research Institute:
The Prairie Research Institute, (originally The Institute of Natural Resource Sustainability), was created in July of 2008 to house four state scientific surveys — Illinois Natural History Survey (INHS), the Illinois State Geological Survey (ISGS), the Illinois State Water Survey (ISWS), and the Illinois Sustainable Technology Center (ISTC) — as a group under the auspices of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Then in 2010, the Illinois Transportation Archaeological Research Program (ITARP) became the fifth division under the new name of the Illinois State Archaeological Survey, further expanding the Institute's research and service capabilities. The Institute's mission and vision statement reflect the importance of sustaining our state's natural resources.

The Label Printers is one of the 100 largest converters in the United States. The company owns and operates two facilities in Aurora, Illinois, manufacturing and distributing labels and packaging products to thousands of customers in 25 countries around the world. For further information, please contact us at 800.229.9549.