Lowe-Martin is committed to sustainable environmental stewardship to protect our environment and our economy. Our overreaching sustainability goal is to reduce the environmental footprint of our operations, drive change in our industry, and contribute to a reduction of the environmental footprint of our customers. We believe that this commitment has and will continue to enhance the economic success of our operations and will allow us to continue to deliver benefits for all stakeholders. Our key approach is the consideration and engagement of our ownership, customers, employees, suppliers and the communities in which we conduct business and raise our families. The five fundamental elements of our environmental sustainability strategy are Leadership, Resource Stewardship, Risk Management, Verification and Regulatory Compliance on key environmental issues. We believe that the priority areas of focus in which we can have the greatest impact include Climate Change, Sustainable Forestry, Resource Management and Waste Management.
Lowe-Martin has been recognized as one of Canada’s Most Environmentally Progressive Printers for the past fifteen (15) years. Lowe-Martin was recognized once again in this category at the Canadian Printing Awards in November 2023. This prestigious award has been presented by PrintAction magazine in recognition of Lowe-Martin’s holistic strategy to lessen the environmental impact of its products and processes and our effortsto reduce the overall impact of our industry.
Lowe-Martin has received a Sustainability Rating with Ecovadis for the last 3 years. Ecovadis is the world’s largest and most trusted business sustainability ratings provider. This rating covers a range of non-financial management areas including Environmental, Labour and Human Rights, Ethics and Sustainable Procurement.
Since 2007, Lowe-Martin hasbeen collecting and measuring our carbon footprint for each of our facilities. Lowe-Martin collects this data for Scope 1, 2 and 3 GHG emissions annually inaccordance with the GHG Protocol. This inventory is audited and verified by BMOClimate Smart each year. This assessment helps identify opportunities toimplement strategies to reduce, conserve and replace harmful products andprocesses with more environmentally friendly alternatives.
On May18, 2011, Lowe-Martin announced our Mississauga production facility becamecarbon neutral. As part of the process in becoming carbon neutral, we collectand track our Green House Gas (GHG) inventory on an annual basis. We then implemented reduction strategies inorder to reduce and conserve where we can as well as implement moreenvironmentally friendly alternatives such as 100% renewable electricity. Ournext step was to neutralize the remaining emissions. Lowe-Martin has partneredwith Carbonzero in order to produce measurable, verified emissions reductionsthat will support certified Canadian projects.
In an effort to improve our environmental practices, Lowe-Martin has continuously received and maintained certification from the Forest Stewardship Council's (FSC®) Chain of Custody program since March 2003.FSC® sets high standards that ensure forestry is practiced in anenvironmentally responsible, socially beneficial, and economically viableway. Lowe-Martin strongly believes inthe importance of preserving the environment and has therefore committed itself to developing practices that conform to the Chain of Custody certification. FSC® paper used by Lowe-Martin is properly identified, tracked and handled during production. This process allows Lowe-Martin to provide high quality products while presenting customers with the option of supporting sound environmental practices.
Lowe-Martin has been audited against the 4-Pillar SMETA criteria and successfully met the world-wide standards required in areas including Labour, Health and Safety, Environment and Business Ethics. Sedex works to improve working conditions in various global supply chains providing tools to help companies improve their responsible and sustainable business practices.
Lowe-Martin is pleased to be a founding member of the Sustainable Mail Group (SMG), a new industry association that brings together marketers, manufacturers, and mail service providers to help build a sustainable mail value chain. SMG's mission is "To be stewards of the environment, working within the direct mail industry to offer continuous thought leadership and sustainable solutions that meet consumer demand for responsible mail." Our President and CEO, Ward Griffin, is the first chair of SMG.
