Today and tomorrow, the world’s Christian churches shall be packed to capacity, or at least as much as COVID will allow. Therein, the faithful will read scripture and sing hymns read from bibles that were quite probably printed in our very own Nanjing.
Joining the many superlatives that exist to describe aspects of our fair city is that stating Nanjing is home to the largest bible printing press on Earth. And now, in line with the times, it’s stepping up to address sustainability.
Subsidiary to the Nanjing-based charity, The Amity Foundation, the Amity Printing Press (APC) has churned out over 200 million bibles in its time.
Dating back to 1988, APC claims it has produced bibles in more than 170 languages. Its latest factory also has a capacity for 25 million hardbound books per year.
But that kind of quantity leads to a significant amount of waste. Or at least did. For in recent months, APC has become the poster child for sustainable printing in China, reports Eternity News.
It starts with energy conservation and emissions reduction. Virtually the entire roof of the APC factory in Nanjing is now covered with solar panels, which, it is estimated, reduces yearly carbon emissions by more than 1,630 tonnes.
Then comes the paper. Forest Stewardship Council (FSC)-certified paper is being increasingly used for the printing of the Good Word in Nanjing, while FSC’s very genes also mean that for every tree harvested, two more are planted.
Elsewhere, print ink sourced from soy ingredients make for a biodegradable alternative that also saves employees from that somewhat stinking print-shop environment.
Bibles, like everything printed, also tend to get heavy as the copies mount up. APC utilises forklifts to move bibles and their raw materials around the factory, and right now, 80 percent of them are electric.
So as many of us swing into the festive spirit of 2021, it’s heartwarming to know that our world’s efforts at tackling the climate crisis now go some way across the board. In this way, at least for once, we are all singing from the same hymnbook.
