Sustainability

B & H has practiced sustainability for as long as our long-time employees can remember. We just didn't call it sustainability. We called it good business, and being environmentally responsible.

As a California based company, B & H has long been sensitive to environmental issues, and to the need to be a good corporate citizen. This mindset has been the driver for all the activities that we now think of as sustainability.

In general, we think of our sustainability priorities in terms of the EPA's 3 Rs:

Reduce

The drive to reduce the amount of material in both containers and labels started not long after the introduction of roll-fed labeling. Using less material, and taking cost out of the production process, has been a constant priority for B & H customers since the 1970s.

For B & H, this has meant continued innovation in our labeling technology to enable our labelers to handle lighter and lighter weight containers, and lighter and lighter weight labels. We recognize the importance of these capabilities to both our customers and to the environment, and we continue to dedicate R & D resources to this effort.

The latest B & H developments in this area address the need to handle a wider range of label materials in terms of label structure (mono vs. laminated), label thickness, label materials and label coefficient of friction. Our new Invation™ Cutter, combined with Marathon's Advanced Registration Control System gives B & H the leadership position in terms of handling today's more challenging label materials, even mono layer materials.

And speaking of Marathon, the design of B & H's Marathon series of labelers was driven by the following explicit goals that directly impact the first of the 3 Rs:

• Reducing the mechanical complexity of roll-fed labelers
• Reducing the number of parts required to build roll-fed labelers,
• Reducing the amount of raw materials required to build roll-fed labelers, and
• Reducing the maintenance required to keep roll-fed labelers in good operating condition.

The result is a series of labelers that:

• uses 40% fewer mechanical components than mechanical or rotary labelers,
• dramatically reduces the use of petroleum based lubricants, and
• eliminates hundreds of pounds of raw materials and components from the total weight of the labeler.

The raw materials used to make labelers - mild steel, stainless steel, aluminum - are expensive, and require vast amounts of energy to manufacture. Designing and building smaller footprint linear roll-fed labelers, and thereby reducing the amount of these raw materials used in a labeler, simply makes sense for the environment.

Pound for pound, Marathon offers source-reduced performance that large and mechanically complex rotary roll-fed labelers simply cannot match.

Weigh one for yourself today.

For more information about the 3 Rs at B & H, please call Marketing at 209-556-6160, or e-mail marketing@bhlabeling.com.

Reuse

We're cheap. OK, maybe frugal is a more politically correct term, but we've always reused everything we could. From pallets, to the wood in broken pallets, to rebuilt and reconditioned cutters, to cardboard boxes that could be reused for shipping spare parts, reuse has been part of our culture for as long as anyone can remember.

We also provide parts and service for every B & H labeler ever manufactured. We believe in the value of keeping our labelers in-service for as long as our customers need them, and the strategy of obsolescing labelers or components as a way to force customers to buy a new labeler is simply foreign to us. We never really thought of our approach as sustainability, because to us, it was good for our customers, which meant it was good for B & H.

For more information about the 3 Rs at B & H, please call Marketing at 209-556-6160, or e-mail marketing@bhlabeling.com.

Recycle

Recycling is an everyday habit at B & H. When something is a habit, "initiatives" and "policies" and "programs" dictating responsible corporate behavior simply aren't necessary.

B & H has recycled everything from machine shop metal shavings to scrap metal to machine tool lubricants to solvents to computers and monitors to..., well, the list goes on, for as long as anyone can remember.

We even recycle old B & H labelers and key machine components like cutters and glue systems by rebuilding them for customers. B & H labelers and their components are built to last, and rebuilding them makes sense for our customers, for our business, and for the environment. The raw materials used to make labelers are expensive, and require vast amounts of energy to manufacture. Rebuilding old labelers and components is recycling at its best, and we're very pleased to support our customers and the environment through this service.

For more information about the 3 Rs at B & H, please call Marketing at 209-556-6160, or e-mail marketing@bhlabeling.com.