Stationers’ Company holds sustainability symposium

The Stationers’ Company Environmental Group will host a symposium ‘How clean and sustainable is your supply chain?’  on 12 November at Stationers’ Hall, London, UK.

Chaired by Mike Hancock, the Environmental Group was created to focus on promoting awareness and understanding of environmental and sustainability issues.

The event will address a number of sustainability issues and the implications of new EU legislation relating to timber and its derivative products coming into force in March 2013.

Kevin Dewey, master of the Stationers’ Company, said: ‘Traders will need to know the provenance of timber and timber products, including paper and pulp, from March. This will have a major impact on many of the industries that make up the Stationers’ Company, including paper, publishing and office products. It is this type of relevant topic, addressed by respected heavyweight speakers that the Environmental Group has been set up to organize.’

Francis Sullivan, deputy head of group corporate sustainability and advisor on the Environment for HSBC Holdings, will chair the event. Speakers include Mark Thompson, director, sustainability, Price Waterhouse Cooper; Jane Bickerstaff, director, INCPEN (The Industry Council for Packaging and the Environment); Fiona Wheatley, sustainable development manager, Marks & Spencer; and Jamie Overland, category director, print, banner managed communications.

The group’s plans include an annual Schools’ Lecture with an associated interactive industry exhibition for 13- to 16-year-old students, from 2013.

Dewey continued: ‘One important aim of the Schools’ Lecture will be to demonstrate how our industries are taking steps to make themselves sustainable, thereby providing attractive career prospects.’

The Environment Group also plans to extend the Stationers’ Foundation bursary scheme, already very successful in the fields of publishing, journalism, packaging, etc to include courses covering environmental and sustainability topics pertinent to the content and communications industries.

Tickets, priced at GBP £40, can be booked at www.stationers.org or for more information contact Giles Fagan, deputy clerk, on +44 207 246 0988.