Charley Daniel, proprietor of Black Rainbow Printing, has been an environmental activist for most of his life. A natural part of his activism – leading by example – was the establishment of his printing business in 1987. Originally located in Gelantipy the business is now located just north of Bairnsdale at Mount Lookout. It is little known that in 2008 Black Rainbow was acknowledged as one of the top ‘environmentally responsible’ printers in the worldwide Heidelberg International Eco Printing Awards.
The business is climate friendly for a number of reasons starting with the impressive array of solar panels which powers all of Black Rainbow’s operations. Associated with this is the use of 100% recycled paper in all the operations as part of the protection of native forests. Charley was amongst those small group of heroes tirelessly advocating for the preservation of native forests long before climate change was even recognised. He is well aware of the value of these forests as a carbon store and through his management and protection of “100 acres of native forest in East Gippsland”. As a carbon sink the business is carbon negative – that is it sequests more carbon than it produces.
A selection from the long list of other climate friendly credentials on his website includes: “Australia’s first green printers, still setting international benchmarks for environmentally responsible printing”; specialising “in the use of recycled, alternative fibre and reclaimed papers and environmentally responsible stocks”; “Thoroughly research(ing) the origin of paper and the authenticity of manufacturers environmental claims”; “Fully recycle 100% of all paper waste in our paper recovery program”; “Reduce, re-use, recycle in all aspects of our business operations” and lobbying “paper manufacturers (1980’s) to supply responsible stocks resulting in first Australian availability”.
Of his recent extra activities Charley is the retiring secretary of the Gippsland Environment Group. On a personal note he has done a number of small printing jobs for me – pamphlets, posters, How to Vote and Business Cards – for my political candidacy (mostly as a ‘climate independent’) in various elections over the last few years. In this he has been competitive and generous in his time and labour.