Jordan Darragh had been working in the print industry for a decade and although he had a lot of success, he felt a lack of purpose. He found that purpose by leaving the print industry for a clean tech energy company where he could devote his energy to climate change solutions.
His work at that tech energy company led to the idea for PrintReleaf, where he could combine his experience in the print and clean tech industries.
“I risked foregoing significant income and savings by resetting my career trajectory from the corporate ladder back into startup land,” Darragh said. “I took the risk to fulfill the vision and the dream of being an entrepreneur, running my own business.”
PrintReleaf is a sustainability solution and platform that mainly serves the print industry and is expanding into packaging as well. PrintReleaf provides its customers a way to offset the trees and/ or carbon emissions associated with the paper they use. Paper consumption data is measured and analyzed to calculate the forest and carbon impact.
“Through certified forestry partners, PrintReleaf then reforests the equivalent number of trees in certified global forests,” the company said. “The survival of the trees is verified and corrected to 100% net survivability, and the customer receives reforestation certification for their participation. Similarly, customers can purchase carbon offsets in equivalence to the carbon emissions associated with the paper they used in the printing process.”
PrintReleaf recently put together a five-year plan and projected its growth from $1.35 million in revenue to $10 million while planting 30 million trees by the end of year five. The company also plans to offset more than one million metric tonnes of carbon over the next five years as well.
“It is very important to us to grow smart and not just fast,” the company said. “We want our solutions for sustainability to become the gold standard in the industry and to be a default for our customers and their end customers. Part of this vision relies on educating the industry on what they can do to offer better value to their customers, but also for them to realize that it is good for their brands as well.”
Darragh has been recognized as a Top 40 innovator in the print industry by ENX Magazine. He was asked to speak about PrintReleaf at Yale’s annual sustainability summit.
The company entered commitments with the One Trillion Trees initiative and with 1% for the Planet to demonstrate its commitment to sustainability, just as it asks its customers to do. “We are confident that as we push ahead, our momentum will snowball and sustainable printing will be the default expectation rather than the exception,” Darragh’s team said. “Jordan is helping position PrintReleaf to be that force of change.”
