Page 46 - Print21 November-December 2021

Sustainability
Pegasus hits
94.87% recyclability
Less than 30 years ago print was in environmental terms a dirty industry. Since then huge progress has been made as printers and suppliers have worked tirelessly to clean up the industry. Today it is hard to imagine any industry that has come as far in greening itself. Pegasus Print Group is one example of a company working to a long term vision of environmental sustainability.
Print environmental pioneer Pegasus Print Group has reached almost 95 per
cent recyclability from its Blacktown factory, saving
1275 tonnes of waste from landfill in the past year.
The company, part of AAB Holdings, saved the equivalent of 4600 trees, a million kilowatts of power, 447,000 litres of water and 223 tonnes of CO2 emissions, thanks to its focus on waste management, recycling, and following environmental practices and protocols in its print manufacturing.
Wayne Finkelde, CEO of AAB says, “Pegasus has been pursuing
an environmentally-friendly manufacturing strategy for 15 years. It is really paying off now, I’m proud of the whole team. Everything we
do goes through an environmental matrix.”
Finkelde says this year’s result should top 95 per cent. He says, “We changed our waste partner
to Wanless a year ago, and they have been terrific. They have their
own recycling plant, and they even sort through our general waste to recycle more. We sort into plastic, metals, paper, board, timber, all our pallets are recycled, broken ones are chipped.”
The company has also just inked a new deal with plate supplier Fujifilm, that will see Fujifilm take all used plates for recycling. Previously the plates were being sent to metal recycler by Pegasus.
A recyclability of nigh on 95 per cent is a remarkable achievement. Finkelde says, “Much of the remaining five per cent is still work in progress.”
Pegasus has 180 staff at its Blacktown site, with WH&S manager Andrew Davies and commercial manager Daryn Wilson leading the environmental drive, along with the operational managers.
Sister company SOS Print + Media has 60 staff at its Alexandria site. Finkelde says, “The SOS report is not yet in, but when it comes I expect it will achieve an even higher number, as it is mainly a digital operation there.”
Wayne Finkelde
All lights at Pegasus are LED with low CO2 output. Finkelde says, “Energy of course is a major cost as well as environmentally sensitive. We have reduced our consumption tremendously. Older equipment that consumed a lot of power has been shipped out and replaced with modern energy efficient systems.”
“Even the clips, which used to be plastic, are now made from sugar cane, and recyclable.” – Wayne Finkelde
Below
Sustainable: Pegasus waste recycling report
Pegasus has looked at all aspects of its business, its display bins
for instance are now 100 per cent recyclable, Finkelde says, “Even the clips, which used to be plastic, are now made from sugar cane, and recyclable.”
Pegasus Print Group is one of the biggest independent print businesses in Australia, providing print,
mail, warehousing, logistics and merchandising. 21
The recycling performance for this site is:
94.87%
WASTE SUSTAINABLITY REPORT FINANCIAL YEAR - 2021 Pegasus Print Group
The breakdown in tonnes for your waste streams is as follows
Total tonnes CO2e- produced
82.69
Due to disposal of waste to landfill of 68.91 Tonnes * 1.2
RECYCLING BENEFITS
General Waste Other Landfill
TOTAL
68.91 0.00
1344.58
1275.67
Tonnes saved from landfill
Equivalent of saving
4614 1,061,676 447,246 Trees kWh Litres
223.62 Tonnes CO2e
Recovered from general waste 275.64
Cardboard & paper recycling 999.44
Commingled recycling 0.00
Other recycling 0.595
Recycling %
46 Print21 NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2021 80.00%
70.00% 60.00% 50.00%
100.00%
90.0
0%