Stella Color is SGP Certified. 

Stella Color is a certified member of the Sustainable Green Printing Partnership. We embrace the SGP mission and commit to the practices outlined in our Sustainability Policy. SGP printers gain certification by maintaining a formal management system that focuses company activities on sustainability.

Green vs. Greenwashing.
What does it mean to be certifiably green?

The answer to that question depends on who is doing the certifying. Our sustainability efforts are certified by SGP.

The Sustainable Green Printing Partnership was formed as a collaboration between the Printing Industries of America/Graphic Arts Technical Foundation (PIA/GATF), the Specialty Graphic Imaging Association (SGIA), and the Flexographic Technical Association (FTA) with primary goals of defining sustainable green printing and identifying steps to help the printing industry establish manufacturing and business practices that are more environmentally sustainable.

The application process takes an entire year to complete. Applicants must establish and maintain a rigorous management system to document, measure and report on their activities. Once certification is awarded, partners are required to undergo periodic SGP audits to confirm their continued compliance with all Certification Criteria. This ongoing process embodies the principle that sustainability is not limited to only an environmental aspect but also includes corporate and social responsibility. The SGP describes sustainability in terms of product, process and envelope.

Product focuses on design, engineering and material management. We work with clients and suppliers to facilitate a more sustainable product cycle.

Process is all about the manufacturing steps employed to convert raw materials into the finished product including production of by-products with an environmental, health and safety impact. We are committed to reducing or eliminating waste wherever possible and to continuously evaluating and improving our processes.

Envelope refers to manufacturing support activities involving the facility, grounds, utilities and employees. All areas of our business are evaluated and targeted for improvement.

“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.”

Stella Color is G7 Master Printer qualified. 

The IDEAlliance G7 Master Qualification program identifies Printing Companies, Prepress Service Providers and Agencies who have been trained to use the G7 Proof-to-Print Process and can consistently produce proofs and/or print to the G7 Method.

The G7 method is a new approach to press and/or proofing color calibration. Based on the ISO 12647-2 printing standard, G7 departs from traditional calibration to achieve more consistent visual appearance in neutral gray tones. Our facility has calibrated its equipment and systems to G7 gray balance and neutral tone curves. The G7 Master Qualification Seal verifies that we use the most modern technology, techniques, proofing, press controls and standards required to produce a close visual match from proof to print.

The main innovation of G7 is the direct measurement of a combined CMY neutral gray scale, instead of separate CMY dot gain (TVI) scales. This allows the well-proven photographic principles of gray balance and exposure control to be applied to CMYK printing, ensuring a close visual match between printed images no matter where or how they are produced. G7 is the first device-independent definition of a constant grayscale appearance.

Why should you be interested in G7?

Typically a print-buy is either distributed geographically or distributed across different print types. So, for example, a buyer may want to purchase marketing collateral, packaging and signage with the same brand imagery. Clearly the substrate, gamut and other print characteristics will vary for the different print products. But if all the print products have the same gray balance and neutral tonality defined by G7, they will look remarkably alike to the human eye. Because buyers believe the similarity of the visual appearance across print products is critical, they now make G7 an important factor in their vendor choices and buying decisions.