The “Certificate of Stewardship” hangs proudly in the lobby of Agfa Graphics’ plate manufacturing facility and inkjet demo center located in Branchburg, NJ, USA. The certificate, presented to Agfa Graphics in January, is the result of an inspection performed in 2014 by the state of New Jersey.

“The New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection’s Environmental Stewardship Initiative recognizes Agfa for its voluntary and proactive measures taken to go beyond compliance in an effort to improve the environment and ensure a sustainable future,” says John Giordano, New Jersey DEP’s assistant commissioner of Compliance and Enforcement.

Among the areas in which Agfa Graphics was recognized were the company’s efforts in Materials Conservation, Environmental Policy, Water Use Reduction, Hazardous Materials Reduction, and others. “Compared to 2013, last year we used 20% less water, recycling it instead of dumping it into the sewers. We also cut our gas usage 5% due to increased production efficiencies,” says Jeff Aurichio, director US Manufacturing-Branchburg, Agfa Graphics. “In our warehouses we changed high bay lights to LED technology with motion sensors, leading us to a 12% reduction in electrical usage.”

“It is an honor to be rewarded for our constructive investments,” adds Johan Buelens, global director manufacturing, Agfa Graphics. “Like all our manufacturing plants over the world, the Branchburg facility is working according to ISO9001 (quality), ISO14001 (environment), OSHAS18001 (health and safety) and the Energy Management standard ISO50001 which is quite unique in the industry.”

The NJ DEP’s Environmental Stewardship Initiative is a recognition program developed by Compliance & Enforcement for use by all NJDEP programs that conduct compliance assurance inspections. The program is broad in scope and covers a diverse spectrum of environmental stewardship and sustainable related practices. The intent is to showcase the achievements of members of the regulated community and serve as an information resource to encourage others to follow.