"In the printing business, there's always excess paper getting discarded," Krehbiel explained. The waste includes the top, bottom and front edges of each printing job, as well as paper stained with excess ink or glue. What does the 129-year-old Cincinnati-based corporation do with seven million pounds of unusable paper?

"Rather than dumping it into a landfill, we recycle," said the CEO. CJK uses a baler shredding system to bundle the paper into 1,000 pound bags that are shipped daily to a nearby recycling company. CJK's Chief Operating Officer (COO) and Robert Krehbiel's cousin, Tuck Krehbiel--the men are the third generation of managers at the family-owned business--points out that CJK recycles mostly unprinted paper products or 'pre-consumer waste'. "The majority of our waste is very renewable," said the COO, adding that, in order to recycle printed paper or 'post consumer waste', the ink must be chemically removed.

Yet, as environmentally conscious as CJK may be, the company also has another incentive to bale paper excess. "We receive between two and seven cents per pound [to recycle], depending on the kind of paper," said Robert, citing coated or printed paper as less valuable than paper that's unmarred. Moreover, to discard the bales as trash would actually cost the company money. "Rather than pay to have the excess treated as garbage, we're paid to have it re-used," Tuck said. The company struck a similar deal to recycle extra aluminum plates. According to Robert, CJK "sells them to a metal dealer who melts them down for 40 to 50 cents per pound."

Unfortunately, in the process of printing everything from textbooks and manuals to calendars, football programs (for both the Bengals and Ohio State University), diaries and illustrated children's books--roughly 1,500 jobs per year--CJK's environmental problems extend beyond surplus paper. Ink, for example. "Some solvents contain Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs)," said Robert, stating the official government term for the ingredients of toxic gas. To protect the residential community from such compounds and comply with environmental safety codes, CJK installed a new thermal pollution control device a year and a half ago. Tuck Krehbiel called the installation of what his cousin described as "a big cyclone-looking thing" a "responsible decision." When a printed sheet goes through the drier, Tuck explained, the VOCs emitted are broken down into nearly innocuous gases before they exit the smokestack on the roof.

As for extra ink inside the plant, CJK salvages what's left in the fountain at the day's end by mixing all the colors into black, said Robert. The company also recycles the ink-infused rags that clean the aluminum plates. "We use a company that eliminates waste from rags so the chemicals get properly disposed of," said Tuck. Robert calls CJK "a small-quantity hazardous waste generator"- the official phrase for the production of "less than 50 thousand gallons per year" of hazardous waste. He explains that it's common for a printing company as large and as active as CJK to produce significantly more hazardous waste, but says he "makes sure to stay in the small category."

As environmentally conscious as they may be, however, CJK executives are not necessarily trained to know how to protect surrounding environmental resources. "As an industry, we are in need of services that help guide us through these issues," said Tuck. CJK relies on the "expertise" of Hixson, Inc. for suggestions on how to minimize the 200 thousand-square-foot printing plant's waste and pollution, and employs an in-house safety and environmental director to audit the company's progress. The company also depends on Safety Clean to properly dispose of its inks and solvents. "There's a correlation between hazardous waste and health and safety," Robert said.

The CEO also admits he was "fairly inspired" by the 2000 film Erin Brokovich, in which a paralegal, played by Julia Roberts, uncovers the widespread effects of one company's environmental neglect. "I have to drink the water that floats down the Ohio River," said Robert. "I'm not about to put hazardous chemicals in it." As for the seven million pounds of excess paper, some environmentalists argue that a greater utilization of the World Wide Web would minimize print production. To Robert Krehbiel, however, "ink on paper is an exciting thing." Of course, the computer-dependent recognize the value of technology as a tool, he said. He added, however, that the electronic media is no substitute for print. "I personally enjoy being able to take a book or magazine to the beach or to the bathtub," he said.