Printing Green Through Sino-German Cooperation

UMR Supports Hengyuan Printing Guangzhou in Energy Efficiency Project

China’s printing industry shows an annual growth of about 15% and has formed several industry zones. The Pearl River Delta is one of them. Guangzhou is considered the most important hub for the sector in China. The annual South China International Exhibition on Printing Industry took place this year from 9th -11th March for the 17th time. It is one of the major fairs in the industry with more than 800 exhibitors from 17 countries.

The printing industry is particularly sensitized to the environmental situation. High consumption of resources such as energy and water are basics of printing. The use of dyes and cleaning chemicals connected with contaminated waste and wastewater means another burden for the environment. This represents a major challenge for the region and all companies involved in the industry. At the same time, it brings opportunities to technology-advanced nations like Germany to contribute to environmentally friendly business concepts in this field.

First Success…

The Chinese Hengyuan Printing Co, Ltd. is a modern, medium-sized printing company producing with an existing plant in Guangzhou. Hengyuan has already been decorated as a demonstration factory for Heidelberger printing machines. The company has previously expressed its concerns about environmental issues and is highly motivated to improve. Based on detailed recording and monitoring of the current situation, the responsible persons developed a new strategy targeted at providing a transferable, optimized energy and environmental design for a new industrial building. The opening ceremony on 20th January 2010 was attended by Mr. Christian Rumplecker, Deputy Consul General of the Federal Republic of Germany in Guangzhou.
Based on German energy saving standards, the German project partners UMR Gesellschaft für Umweltmanagement und Risiko-Service mbH (Environmental and Risk Services Co Ltd.) and Kunze Engineering Ltd. support Hengyuan in its efforts to reach standards of environmental friendliness. Assisted by the German partners, local architects and authorities will implement an optimized energy and building design at the new location. The project is supported by the German Investment and Development Company Ltd. (DEG) and the German Ministry of Economic Collaboration (BMZ). The aim is to strengthen the competitiveness of the printing industry and to implement transferable building-environment-concepts and transparent assessment criteria. The project refers to the Environmental Passport showing the environmental standard of companies. This will enable local and international clients to select a supplier based on environmental protection criteria.

…Makes Hope for Followers

With the development of an energy classification in the form of the Building in Energy Pass, a new and innovative tool for environmental evaluation of industrial buildings will be established in China. Yet fulfilling the same purpose as the Environmental Passport it will help decision makers to choose eco-friendly buildings for further investments. With this first showcase project, UMR and its partners hope to implement actions that improve the economic and ecologic efficiency of enterprises in China. Based on the example of Hengyuan Printing Company the partners are keen to establish the new concept by convincing other companies and industry associations of the long-term competitiveness and sustainable impact of environmentally friendly technology.