Sustainability in Action: Inside Our Commitment to a Greener Future!

One Journey

• Our books and resources are proudly printed by Walsh Colour Print, our sister company, and stored at our premises in Castleisland, Co Kerry.
• As the only Irish educational publisher with an in-house printing facility, we ensure a small carbon footprint in delivering our titles.
• With warehousing on-site, our books move mere minutes from the printer to the warehouse via forklift, unlike weeks or months for others.
• Your order is swiftly fulfilled from our Castleisland warehouse directly to your school, ensuring just one journey from printing to your door.
• Track the journey easily on Google Maps; our proximity means your books travel a short distance, guaranteeing availability.
• Choose Educate.ie for the shortest journey to your door and enjoy quick turnaround times, avoiding lengthy out-of-stock periods.

Print Technology & Low Waste

• We pioneered H-UV printing presses in Europe in 2016, minimising environmental impact by eliminating solvent emissions and reducing CO2 emissions.
• H-UV ink delivers high gloss and scuff resistance without the need for coating.
• Printing in Ireland enables us to manage stock efficiently, minimising waste and avoiding overprinting.
• Our digital printing presses offer quick setup, reducing waste and carbon emissions by 30% compared to traditional methods.
• State-of-the-art web printers scan every sheet for print quality, reducing paper wastage to as low as 50 sheets per job.
• Our commitment to efficient printing practices ensures minimal raw material usage, contributing to a sustainable future.

Paper and Packaging

• Our books use FSC-approved paper, ensuring responsible forestry practices and protection of plant, animal species, and worker welfare.
• Say goodbye to plastic wrap; our textbooks and activity books are now packaged with secure straps, reducing plastic usage by over 90%

Power Supply & Heating

• 97% of our electricity comes from renewable sources.
• Our wind turbine in Castleisland, operational within 12 months, will generate 100% of our power.
• This turbine has a 900 kw capacity. Our business needs are 800 kw, meaning that when the wind is blowing, not only will the wind turbine generate 100% of our power, but we will also be sending the excess back to the grid. 
• We reuse heat from our printing machines to warm our Castleisland premises, eliminating the need for an oil heating system and four oil tanks.

Day-to-Day Green Initiatives 

• Our offices have separate green, brown and general waste bins to encourage waste segregation, composting and recycling and ensure unavoidable waste is disposed of in a responsible way. 
• We encourage and support staff to modify behaviours by cutting out unnecessary business travel, saving water and reducing energy usage. 
• Educate.ie’s offices are a single-use-free zone with no disposable cups and cutlery; and no individual condiments such as sugar and salt.

What’s Next?

Our green story is always about what we can do next, and our sights are already set on:

• Installing solar panels to supplement our wind power, for those days when the wind is not blowing.
• Planting native Irish trees on a 13 acre site in Co Kerry which will act as a carbon sink, drawing carbon from the atmosphere and increasing diversity of plant and animal species. It is estimated that 75.5 tonnes of carbon will be sequestered each year, helping us toward achieving carbon neutrality.