Ukraine - Make a difference NOW!

I'm sure most of us working in the graphic arts industry, whether a designer, printer or paperperson have wondered if there is anything positive that we can do to help with the Ukrainian-Russian war ...well now there is!

An article appeared in PrintWeek yesterday which highlights a global paper manufacturer who is still producing paper in Russia. The company is called Mondi and are one of the largest paper and packaging companies in the world with manufacturing facilities and offices all around the world including facilities in Russia which employ 5,300 people.

In my opinion we should all be putting Mondi under pressure to suspend production in Russia. It is only by large corporates like Mondi (turnover £5.5 Billion!) exerting pressure such as this on the  Russian Government that could make a difference. It will affect the Russian economy and also get more people in Russia talking about the situation.

I have been racking my brains as to any contribution that I can make to this struggle and here (thanks to PrintWeek) there is something that all of us in the graphic arts can do!

Firstly, please email the CEO and Chairman of the Mondi Group (who I believe are both based in their Surrey headquarters) 

CEO is: andrew.king@mondigroup.com 

Chairman is: philip.yea@mondigroup.com

Jenny Hampshire is the Company Secretary and is listed as the Governance contact: jenny.hampshire@mondigroup.com

https://www.mondigroup.com/en/

Please email these people - get everyone you know to email them asking them "as a global leader in paper and packaging we ask you to demonstrate real leadership and suspend production at your sites in Russia" Flood their email boxes - PLEASE

Please use twitter, facebook, instagram and whatever social media you can to get the message across.

Secondly you can boycott Mondi products. Stop buying, specifying or using any Mondi products until they suspend their activities in Russia. In printing/graphics you may be familiar with their brands Color Copy, Nautilus Recycled and Pergraphica. Color Copy is the largest brand used in offices and copy shops and seen everywhere.

If you are a printer - tell your paper merchant you won't be buying a Mondi product until they have suspended operations in Russia. If you are a designer or project manager, make sure you don't specify any of their products. If you are in packaging, make sure that packaging is not being supplied by Mondi. Antalis is one of the large Mondi distributors in the UK.

This is something we can all do which might just help a bit - it won't take much time to do ...and if you don't think you've got time, just imagine you've heard gunfire outside your window - that's what it's like for those poor people in Ukraine right now, so spend 5 minutes of your time and send some emails - it might just make a difference.

You can read the story in PrintWeek here: https://www.printweek.com/news/article/mondi-updates-on-ukraine-russia

Please note: I have nothing against Mondi. This is not personal. We have worked with Mondi in the past and they are a very nice company to work with - but they are in the situation where they can make a difference, so we must tell them!

UPDATE on 4th March - article in The Times https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/c1855f14-9afd-11ec-8194-a993851c15ba?shareToken=84ac5bf545ddd88bda72c70ddc58cda3

Posted by Justin Hobson 03.03.2022

PS - for comparison, there is another global paper company called StoraEnso (interestingly some people consider Stora Enso to be the oldest limited liability company in the world having been incorporated in 1288!). Stora Enso is stopping all production and sales in Russia until further notice due to the ongoing invasion in Ukraine. Good for them! You can read more HERE