Green Initiative

Our Promise

At ICON we are committed to implementing and reinforcing environmentally friendlyinitiatives throughout our daily operations and processes. Through the use of industryleading waste disposal systems, we make it our goal to leave the smallest carbonfootprint by applying a variety of green programs throughout our workplace.

Corporate Sustainability Practices

At ICON, we continuously implement the following sustainability practices to help reachour goal of decreasing our carbon footprint. These practices include:


Actively Investing in eco-friendly printing processes & equipment

Throughout the past few years, ICON has transitioned to solely using Durst RHO RollInks.

  • The only inks approved by the Nordic Swan environment standard for theEnvironmental Test Institute Nordic Ecolabel
  • Our inks are no longer chemical-based and our now environmentally-friendly UVvegetable inks


Sourcing biodegradable materials and paper products

All scrap paper, printing material and packaging cardboard from our production facilityis collected and set aside in our facility. All liners and extra material leftover from installsites are also gathered and brought back to ICON’s facilities where they are added tothis collection.All extra paper products are collected by our local vendor, Paper Fibres Inc, every 3-5days to be recycled and repurposed at their facility in Mississauga.ICON’s partnership with Paper Fibres INC helps reduce water pollution by 35%, airpollution by 74%, and saves 4800kWh of energy per tonne of paper recycled. Enoughrenewable energy to power an average household for 7 months.


Sourcing and recycling small format print plates

ICON carefully removes used aluminum plates from presses and washes them of anyleftover inks. Plates are changed out every 2-3 months and used until they arecompletely worn out. After this, we set the plates aside and weigh them for recycling towhich they are sent out to our local scrap metal vendor where plates are melted downand repurposed.


Transforming ICON’s facilities into high efficiency buildings

All properties are retrofitted with a lighting system in place that delivers a 75%reduction in electricity use.


Maintaining greater control over total production quality

At ICON, we are dedicated to expanding our equipment roster to reduce the need foroutsourcing of project elements. We conduct an annual internal audit to measure ourtotal output per printer and overall emissions per machine. The data gathered from thisinformation is then used to reduce redundancies and maximize each printer’s overallefficiency. Less efficient machines within our inventory will then be sold or recycled toaid in the reduction of our carbon footprint.

Within our facilities, we have introduced a no-idle policy for all trucks and couriers

  • ICON’s shipping bays and production facilities are outfitted with sensors that triggerexhaust systems when emissions get too high
  • Couriers that park in our shipping bays will trigger the system if idling for too long andour shipping team will instruct drivers to turn off their vehicles

How does it work?

PARK

Couriers park in shipping bays or outside garage doors.

ALERT

Upon ringing the doorbell, camera capture the presence of vehicles and triggers a live feed to ICON's shipping department.

INSTRUCT

Couriers are instructed with all signage throughout the property to turn off their vehicles.
Rules are reinforced by all shipping staff.

Notify

In the rare case that the shipping bays are busy and vehicles are idling, sensors will trigger exhaust fans once CO2 emissions get too high.

REINFORCE

Infans are activated, shipping managers will reinforce No idling policy with couriers.

What's New In Sustainability

What's New In SustainabilityICON has recently enrolled in a cutting edge recycling program for Plinth graphics.Working in partnership with HBC, ICON arranges pick-ups of the Plinth graphics fromHBC stores across Canada and delivers them to our recycling partner for carefulconversion. These waste-to-energy facilities are designed to convert the waste thatremains after recycling into electricity for homes and businesses and/or stream forexport to industries.

Within the Plinth graphics recycling program with HBC & ICON, here are some of the target annual metrics we hope to achieve:

  • avoid 45 tons of CO2 equivalent greenhouse gases
  • generate 24915 kWh of renewable energy, enough to power 27 homes for a month
  • reduce the need for 11 tons of coal or 1903 gallons of fu
  • generate 24915 kWh of renewable energy, enough to power 27 homes for a month

reduce, Reuse & Recycle

Reduce

ICON is dedicated to reducing the number of colour proof outputs that it produces. WithICON's Fuji XMF, we create a single proof to multiple output PDF workflow. This helpsreduce the total number of physical proofs produced by 30% minimizing ink and paperusage and reducing our carbon emissions

Reuse

All of ICON's materials and equipment are used until their end-of-life to minimize wasteand ensure maximum product efficiency. ICON's printers and printing plates areswitched out on a minimal basis and all scrap materials are used as internal materialsamples and swatches

Recycle

ICON takes part in several initiatives to recycle all production materials on a regularbasis. From printing plates, cardboard, and all paper-based products, we partner withlocal vendors who collect our excess materials to recycle correctly. All paper suppliesused within the office for administrative purposes are also collected on a weekly basisand recycled

All ICON employees participate in complying with the standards of all green projects.We have built policies and practices to focus on environmental management andcontinuous improvement which will allow ICON to embed environmental sustainabilityinto our business.