"We know the swallows and the bear in the printing press... Here are now the moutons?! "jokes Dominique Felten, sales assistant at Shareprint. Since July, two sheep have been grazing in the green spaces of the UV and digital offset printing plant, which until now has been used to working on five-legged sheep.
Located in Maxéville, near Nancy in Meurthe-et-Moselle, the company, with a turnover of 4.1 million euros, has long been committed to environmental protection. In May 2019, the printing works installed two beehives with 50,000 bees to preserve biodiversity.
Exchange shearers for Ushant sheeps
"We continue to adopt a practice that respects the environment with the arrival of a team of professionals who reinforce the maintenance of the spaces verts?! We welcome two sheep from Ushant at the print shop to take on this task." explains Philippe Colin, president of the 30-person company.
The smallest sheep in the world and very hardy, the Ushant sheep is ideal for ecopasture, i.e. a method of ecological maintenance of natural areas by herbivorous animals.
"Our sheep manage a space of 3?700 m 2 , adds Assia Ijabi, communication and management assistant at Shareprint. We are keeping our traditional green space maintenance business for the other part of the spaces. We didn't want to break our contract with them, so they each get about half."
For the two little sheep, one male and one female, a fence was installed by the association Les Eco-pattes who proposed this project. They are currently sleeping under the trees, but they will be able to protect themselves in a shelter built for them on colder days.
Newcomers who intrigue employees and customers
"It's also a real experience, a human adventure for the company and a unifying project for all employees and customers" says the printer.
Assia Ijabi, who arrived a few weeks ago, testifies: "As a new employee, I was very surprised to discover these two sheep. Today, I fully understand the process. The printing company has an image of being a polluting company, destroying trees for example, whereas this is just a myth. You have to dig deeper and you see that this is not true. And the printing industry can by choosing to go green and counter these rumors."
"And that's a very positive point for our clients as well, continues Dominique Felten, sales assistant at Shareprint. They too are very surprised and say bravo. Our colleagues, customers or not, also congratulate us. We reassure them on the fact that there is no particular maintenance to be done (the association takes care of the annual mowing), they do not need to be watched, nor to go to bed every night... But they haven't taken the plunge yet."
And the first harvest of the two hives, called the honey of confinement, will make it possible to offer 60 kg of honey to employees and customers.
