Adobe and the environment
Adobe is committed to conserving natural resources and minimizing our impact on the environment. We actively implement measures to increase efficiency, conserve energy and water, improve air quality, and reduce waste.
Adobe complies with all environmental legislation and regulatory requirements particular to our business and the communities where we do business. Where possible, Adobe uses recyclable materials. Adobe communicates environmental policies and programs to Adobe employees to ensure that all employees are aware of their role and responsibility to fulfill and sustain Adobe's environmental commitment.
Three key initiatives within Adobe’s environmental sustainability effort are our office building operations, our waste management program, and our product packaging.
Office buildings
Adobe’s headquarters spans three office towers that comprise over one million square feet of office space, making it the largest corporate presence in downtown San Jose.Over the past several years, Adobe has initiated over 70 separate energy and conservation projects to improve the site’s environmental sustainability. The effort has reduced indoor water use by 22%, landscaping water use by 76%, electricity by 35%, and natural gas by 41%.
These documented improvements earned the site three Platinum LEED Certifications from the U.S. Green Building Council, ranking it as one of the most environmentally sound business facilities in the world.
View a segment of KQED’s Quest series that covers green building trends and Adobe's successful implementation of green technologies at its San Jose headquarters.
Waste management
The approximately 2,100 employees headquartered at Adobe’s San Jose campus actively engage in recycling and composting programs that divert up to 95 percent of the site’s solid waste from landfill. Paper, cardboard, plastic, glass, cans, printer toner, and batteries are recycled, and food waste is composted.
Similar programs are being deployed and expanded where possible throughout Adobe’s more than 80 facilities worldwide. Additionally, by establishing PDF as an ISO standard and advocating its use both internally and to its customers, Adobe has emerged as the world’s leading promoter of paperless business processes.
Product packaging
As one of the largest providers of boxed software in the world, Adobe is uniquely positioned to reduce the impact of product packaging in our industry.The company recently launched an environmentally sensitive redesign of its software packaging based on a comprehensive evaluation of packaging materials, production, transport, use, and disposal.
The resulting packaging, which is being phased in across the Adobe product line, combines recyclable cardboard derived from sustainably managed forests, a die-cut production method and folding inserts to minimize glue use, and reduced size and fewer inserts to limit materials use.
Articles and Presentations
Sustainable Print and Design – Reducing Your Environmental Impact
In this easy-to-navigate, fully narrated presentation, Adobe Certified Print Expert James Lockman outlines practical ideas that printing and design companies can implement to minimize their environmental footprint. Launch the presentation >
Green Printing Tips
Whether it is motivated by customer demand, industry regulation, or personal conviction, printing green is an accelerating trend. This document outlines simple tips from Adobe on how you can turn your print-related activities into eco-friendly, sustainable choices. Read the article >
Tools and Guides to Take Your Business Green
WhatTheyThink.Com
In this article, Gayle Nickle-Kailing offers, “Whether you’ve just made the decision to take your business green or you’ve started on your journey and need some inspiration and/or help, you’ll find the tools and guides you need on the WhatTheyThink Going Green Reports, Papers, and Studies page. Read the full article >
Green is the New Black, Printing News
Toni McQuilken notes, “As print providers, print buyers, and creatives, you cannot overlook this movement. The mandate to go green is coming at you—federal regulations are getting tighter and tighter, states are beginning to layer on ever more controls on top of that, and corporations, your ultimate clients, are facing demands from consumers to have openly environmentally sound practices.” In this article, she explores the many resources and products out there to help you incorporate this initiative. Read the full article >
Great Print Sustained, Graphic Arts Monthly Online
Don Carli explores the heightened interest in green advertising and what it means to printers. “You might call it the new green. The new green is not based on moral or ethical imperatives, or on purely emotional appeals. It is based on a conceptual framework called sustainability that is being used to redefine the way business is done. Increasingly it will change the nature of demand for printing services, printing equipment and supplies.” Read the full article >
Green Case Studies
Hemlock Printers is Leading the Way to Sustainability
The demand for environmentally friendly print and packaging materials and practices is skyrocketing, presenting many print service providers with the formidable challenge of completely overhauling their existing equipment, processes, and culture to remain competitive. For Hemlock Printers, however, it’s just business as usual. Read the full story >
Schawk Produces Packaging that Speaks Volumes
Schawk, a leading brand point management company, uses eco-friendly Adobe packaging workflow featuring Esko plug-ins to deliver flexible, high-quality packaging solutions. Read the full story >
Monroe Litho
Monroe Litho’s commitment to the environment is evident in its use of wind power; certification by the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC); and a workflow based on Adobe Creative Suite software and Adobe Portable Document Format (PDF) that helps the company boost productivity, prepare jobs faster, and deliver a higher-quality product. With a client roster that includes five of the top ten environmental organizations in the country, Monroe Litho is clearly striking a chord. Read the full story >
Copy General
Ken Chaletzky, president of Copy General, introduced Brightdoc – an environmentally-friendly e-commerce and on-demand Variable Data Publishing (VDP) solution – with the goal of transforming Copy General from a commodity printer to a value-added printer. Based on an Adobe Portable Document Format (PDF) workflow, Brightdoc provides VDP services for charities, nonprofits, businesses, and technology firms. Read the full story >
Events and Associations
SustainCommWorld Conference and Expo
Join business leaders, brand owners, communications professionals and sustainability experts to learn about essential tools that will help improve your bottom line and drive top line results as you move toward your sustainability objectives. The Conference will be held October 1-2, 2008 at the Boston Marriott Copley Place in Boston, MA. Learn more >
WhatTheyThink.Com Goes Green
WhatTheyThink.com has launched a new special interest section to its web site – Going Green. Randy Davidson, President, says, ““The new WhatTheyThink special interest section is designed to be a resource for our readers to help them identify and implement a wide range of green initiatives. Our goal is to help our members to learn from others – both inside and outside the graphic arts industry – and to find the information and assistance they want as they go green.” Learn more >
The Sustainable Green Partnership
The mission of the Sustainable Green Printing Partnership is to encourage and promote participation in the worldwide movement to reduce environmental impact and increase social responsibility of the print and graphic communications industry through sustainable green printing practices. Learn more >
The Chlorine Free Products Association
The Chlorine Free Products Association {CFPA} is an independent not-for-profit accreditation and standard setting organization whose focus is promoting sustainable manufacturing practices, implementing advanced technologies free of chlorine chemistry, educating consumers on alternatives, and developing world markets for sustainably produced third party certified products and services. Learn more >
The Sustainable Packaging Coalition
The Sustainable Packaging Coalition is an industry working group inspired by cradle to cradle principles and dedicated to transforming packaging into a system that encourages economic prosperity and a sustainable flow of materials. Learn more >
Forest Stewardship Council – US
The Forest Stewardship Council was created to change the dialogue about and the practice of sustainable forestry worldwide. Its purpose is to coordinate the development of forest management standards throughout the different biogeographic regions of the U.S., to provide public information about certification and FSC, and to work with certification organizations to promote FSC certification in the U.S. Learn more >
The Institute for Sustainable Communication
The Institute for Sustainable Communications is a non-profit organization committed to promoting awareness and widespread adoption for economically, socially and environmentally sound sustainable development practices in the use of communication media. The ISC is a founding sponsor of SustainCommWorld Conference and Expo.
