Don Parry, from Nambour-based Queensland Complete Printing Services, has been drafted in as a mentor in the government's ecoBiz program, which he has been involved with for a number of years.
Parry has been tasked with recruiting 20 businesses for the eight-month program, with 12 locked in already.
"I'm looking for a group of small manufacturers - and I class printers in that category. Whether we're making loaves bread or producing envelopes, we're using machinery to put raw materials together," he told ProPrint.
"Sometimes having people who aren't in the same industry is good because we don't perceive each other as competitors," added Parry.
Printers no longer deserved the reputation as a dirty industry, said Parry. "It's no longer valid and we need to market that."
"It's time that printers don't feel beat up over these things. We need to take a minute and reflect on how far we've come."
The ecoBiz project, run by the Department of Environment and Resource Management, aims to assist businesses find efficiencies in waste, water and energy for financial and environmental benefits.
Parry, who was on the Queensland steering group for Printing Industries' Sustainable Green Print initiative, said his company had found ways to reduce energy use by 30%, and runs the whole plant off green energy.
"You can't change the core printing equipment. Small printers don't have too much choice in energy-saving printing equipment - it's basically what Germany and Japan give us."
"So where do we save the energy? We save it around the edges," he said.
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