Konica Minolta Business Solutions U.S.A. Inc. has announced it received an Honorable Mention as part of PR Newsline's annual Social Impact Awards. This award recognizes outstanding corporate social responsibility (CSR) and diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives. Konica Minolta's winning Arbor Day Foundation activation was part of its exhibit during Labelexpo Americas 2022 last September in Chicago. At the show, the company showcased its full line of labeling printers — including the U.S. market's first look at the company's new AccurioLabel 400 five-color digital label press.

Konica Minolta received an Honorable Mention as part of PR Newsline's 2023 Social Impact Awards. At Labelexpo Americas 2022, the company's marketing team developed an activation to plant a tree for every booth visitor as a fun way to engage attendees, who could write their name or company on a label and adhere it as a "leaf" to a large white tree at the exhibit. Rolls of specially designed labels were printed on a Konica Minolta label printing press for the activation.

Professional printing companies are more environmentally conscious than ever, and with so many sustainable resources available, they are finding ways to produce printed products that are not impactful to the environment. Konica Minolta has long believed in sustainability and the need for companies to create positive change, long before most of the corporate world considered the need for action — hence, its corporate global philosophy, "The Creation of New Value." The company's printing equipment technology is widely known for features that help print shops meet this mission by eliminating waste, reducing power consumption and much more.

Based on growing trends in sustainability, in addition to showcasing its label technology, Konica Minolta sought to leverage this opportunity to drive awareness for its own, long-term environmental action plan.

"Konica Minolta has a long-time environmental action plan that includes achieving carbon minus status by 2030 and reducing CO2 emissions throughout the product life cycle by 80% by 2050," said Stacey Sujeebun, director of corporate marketing and brand communications, Konica Minolta. "As part of this mission, the company has partnered with the Arbor Day Foundation for the last two years to plant more than 20,000 trees in an effort to revitalize U.S. national forests. LabelExpo was the perfect opportunity to share the pride we have in this program with our current and potential customers, dealers, press and analysts."

Considering its environmental action plan and partnership with the Arbor Day Foundation, Konica Minolta's marketing team developed an activation to plant a tree for every booth visitor as a fun way to engage attendees, who could write their name or company on a label and adhere it as a "leaf" to a large white tree behind the booth's check-in desk. Rolls of specially designed labels were printed on a Konica Minolta label printing press for the activation.

By the end of the show, Konica Minolta collected almost 300 "leaves" from booth visitors and planted that many trees — bringing the total number of trees planted during 2022 to 10,500. These trees are part of a broader initiative with the Arbor Day Foundation to help replant more than 50 acres of forestland, resulting in sequestering nearly 2,000 metric tons of net carbon dioxide and removing nine tons of air pollution over the next 40 years. Together with the Arbor Day Foundation, the company is currently working to support reforestation in California, which was significantly impacted by wildfires in 2019, affecting more than 1.8 million acres of forestland in the state.