Project LIFE.

Over the past two years, a dozen label converters have donated countless hours of their time to pursue a goal that they are certain will improve their businesses and those of their customers. They also believe that it will be a boon to their competitors, to the packaging industry, and to ... well, to the whole circle of life. These folks are members of TLMI, and their volunteer effort now has a name: Project LIFE. The acronym stands for Label Initiative For the Environment.

This group, under the able chairmanship of John McDermott of Label World, and the guidance of TLMI Environmental Committee Chairman Calvin Frost, has completed its work and has something impressive to show the converting community. Information will be available at Labelexpo, and the formal presentation of Project LIFE will be made in October at the TLMI Annual Meeting in Florida.

The project grew out of concern by converters' customers that the labels they buy, and in some cases the processes by which they convert them, are "green." A great many converters were asking around, anxious for answers, eager to know how to get the green ball rolling. Because no standards of good environmental practices have ever existed to guide label converters in the direction of sustainability, this group decided it would give a try.

The TLMI board of directors, recognizing that the group had accomplished a great deal in the first year, funded the hiring of Five Winds, a consulting firm that assisted in the preparation of the LIFE Reference Manual and Scorecard. These are guides to a self-assessment that enables a label converter to determine the extent of its engagement in activities and projects that reduce the environmental burden of their operations.

The program, which will be available only to TLMI members, goes so far as to enable a converter to get an outside audit to assess achievement in a multitude of areas, such as waste elimination; reduction of emissions, energy and water use; and efforts toward environmental management. Those who pass the audit will be permitted to flourish the Project LIFE logo in all of their transactions, indicating to their customers that they are serious about sustainability.

Calvin Frost writes more about Project LIFE in this issue (page 37). If you visit Labelexpo, stop by TLMI's booth for details. It's a project well worth exploring.

Jack Kenny, Editor

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