40 email: news@printmonthly.co.uk July / August 2024 - Issue 349 Overcoming Challenges The past two decades have brought significant challenges from the 2008 financial crash to Brexit and most recently the global Covid-19 Pandemic. Much like many businesses that have been around for some time, Anglia Print had to navigate these challenges as John Popely explains: “I know I’m not alone here, but business has been pretty tough since the financial crash in 2008. Things were picking up, then the country went through the process of a vote on our EU membership. “When the vote was announced (right or wrong) in 2016, just about all of our consumable prices went up by 20%, then utter chaos with trying to price things up until and after we actually left the EU. Just to top things off we were hit with a worldwide pandemic. We’re still here though, still making a profit, and still putting the environment first.” Popely explains that when he first joined the business, it had a local customer base and was making an annual turnover of £32,000. He took out a second mortgage and didn’t pay himself for two years and having persevered through economic challenges, Anglia Print has grown into a multi-award-winning B Corp business that now attracts customers from across the UK, Europe, the US, and Africa. A Family-first Culture Describing the culture at Anglia Print, Popely says: “Family comes first for me and all my staff. We work a 35-hour week with everyone pitching in when extra demand needs it. If family commitments mean that a member of staff needs to get home, or to school, or to the doctor, then again, we all pitch in and cover each other so that person can do home commitment. “We also have our birthdays off. I never liked working on my birthday when I was employed, so I’m not making anyone else work theirs while I’m their employer.” Not liking to sit still, Popely goes on to explain how there’s no such thing as a ‘typical day’ at Anglia Print. “I think I can honestly say that every day brings something different,” he says. “Every job we do is bespoke and if things get a little dull then all of us get our heads together and start thinking up new things to do and new environmental angles to look at. “Just recently we adopted a beehive. No real need for us to do it, but it’s a nice thing to do. We can use our sponsorship to highlight the environmental benefits of pollinators and how at risk they are. At the end of the season, we’ll all get a day out doing some bee keeping and get some free honey.” Two Decades of Action So, we’ve mentioned throughout this feature so far that Anglia Print is a company that puts its money where its mouth is when it comes to sustainability. But what exactly has that looked like over the years? Perhaps a pioneer for sustainability, the company converted all its presses to vegetable oil-based inks back in 2004 and in the same year switched to a nontoxic font solution as well as sourcing biodegradable blanket wash. The next year, Anglia Print moved into a new building which was super insulated at the building stage as well as having water-saving devices fitted to all toilets and taps. 2005 also saw the company start its zero waste to landfill policy which it has continued to achieve ever since. Anglia Print also switched to 100% renewable energy tariff electricity in the same year. In 2006, the company started a CD recycling scheme in the form of a free collection service within a 20-mile radius of its factory. This meant that all parts of the CD and case were separated and stored until enough volume was produced for recycling. According to Popely, over the two and a half years the scheme was run, over ten tonnes of CDs and related materials were recycled. Two years later and the company converted its presses from Genetically Modified soya oil-based inks to non-GM linseed oil-based inks and in 2015 installed low energy computers and servers. “We did an audit of the power generation needed for just the small part of what we would need if we placed all our needs into cloud-based products,” Popely explains. “Cloud-based products are so damaging to the environment we decided to keep as much as we can in-house driven by our own server.” In 2017, the company changed all its plastic packaging tape to printed paper tape as well as had low energy lighting fitted. In 2020, Anglia Print built its on-site wildlife garden and two years later had 18.5Kwh solar array and storage batteries fitted. Recognition and Awards Being dedicated to the environment for two decades and always looking for new ways to be sustainable has meant that Anglia Print has picked up a number of accreditations, recognitions, and awards along the way. Just one year after joining Anglia Print, Popely recalls a proud moment taking his father to the Houses of Parliament for the Green Apple Awards in 2005. In 2008, the company achieved carbon neutrality and has held onto this ever since. A year later, Anglia Print became a COMPANY SPOTLIGHT / ANGLIA PRINT ◄ Anglia Print has built a wildlife garden on-site as well as taking on a beehive
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MjM0NDIxOA==