In the News
Simon and Schuster Releases Environmental Policy
 In
November, Simon & Schuster released a strong environmental
policy stating that by 2012, the company plans to increase its
use of recycled paper from current levels of 10% to 25% and will
use at least 10% FSC (Forest Stewardship Council) certified
paper.
The policy places Simon & Schuster among the ranks of
Random House and 143 other publishers with strong environmental
policies. This is the the first policy from a large publisher to
set a target for increasing the use of FSC certified paper,
which ensures the best practices in forest management. Simon and
Schuster collaborated with Green Press Initiative over a 3 month
period to learn more about the issues and finalize their policy.
For more information visit
Simon & Shusters web site
Thomas Nelson Releases First Bible on Recycled and FSC
Certified Paper
 With the release of the The Charles F. Stanley Life Principles
Daily Bible, publisher Thomas Nelson is the first to produce a
bible with recycled and FSC certified paper. Michael S. Hyatt,
president and CEO of Thomas Nelson, Inc. stated that “Our team
is excited to be taking some important steps forward in
protecting the resources God has given us.” Many other
publishers of the bible and religious books are also taking
steps to minimize environmental impacts. Baker Publishing,
InterVarsity Press, and Ave Maria press all have strong
environmental policies in place, and many other publishers of
bibles and religious books are exploring steps to reduce their
environmental and social impacts. Anne Gerth, Director of
Production for InterVarsity Press, explains the thinking behind
her decision to develop a paper policy, “We commit to taking
formal and meaningful steps towards using responsible paper and
encourage our printing partners to help us meet this challenge.
It is not always easy, but is the right thing to do.”
Above image: Thomas Nelson CEO, Michael S. Hyatt holds a copy of the
bible produced on FSC and recycled paper.
Recycled Fiber Availability to Increase
Pratt Industries, the world's largest privately-owned
manufacturer of paper and packaging materials plans three new
recycled paper mills, four waste to energy plants and 30
materials recovery facilities.
Pratt Chairman and CEO, Anthony Pratt made this announcement
at the Clinton Global Initiative Conference on Oct 1. "Recycling
is an important weapon against climate change. We envision the
U.S. moving toward a zero waste society and seek to increase
U.S. recycling rates dramatically by investing this $1 billion
to expand our recycling operations, and by helping to create a
recycling movement," he said in a statement.
For more information visit
Pratt Industries
Librarians Lend Their Voice for Environmental Change
The American Library Association’s Social Responsibilities
Round Table recently passed a resolution in support of the
mission of the Green Press Initiative. In 2008 the ALA will
undertake a Greening of the Presses advocacy effort aimed at
urging more publishers, as well their suppliers, to reduce their
environmental impacts.
Vast Areas of Boreal Protected
 In late November, the Canadian government announced one of
the largest land conservation agreements in North American
history, which will protect 25.5 million acres of the Canadian
Boreal forest—an areaequal in size to 11 Yellowstone National
Parks. This is great news for one of the world’s last large
intact spans of frontier forests, which is relied upon by a wide
diversity of wildlife as well as hundreds of indigenous
communities.
For more information visit
http://www.borealbirds.org/landnov07
FSC to Consider Rule Change
The board of The Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) will vote
next month on a rule that would prohibit companies that are
damaging endangered forests or using illegally sourced wood from
receiving FSC certification. The proposed change comes after
mounting criticism from stakeholders, and an article in the Wall
Street Journal which states that some companies are using FSC
certification as a means of greenwashing.
Concern arises from
the fact that under current rules, companies can obtain FSC
certification for some of their sourced wood even if the company
is causing environmental degradation or sourcing wood illegally
in other locations. Despite this shortcoming, which FSC is
working to correct, FSC is widely viewed as offering the best
protection to endangered forest and remains the only
certification system to prevent conversion of natural forests
into plantations, and integrate the rights of indigenous
communities.
New York Times Highlights Impacts of Paper in Indonesia
On December 6th, an article appearing in the New York Times
highlighted the impacts of the pulp and paper industry in
Indonesia. The article, available here, discusses both the
impacts on local communities and global warming associated with
the rampant, and often illegal deforestation occurring in
Indonesia.
For more detailed information's about the impacts, see
Indonesia Under Pressure,
a briefing report developed by the Green Press Initiative
A Call for Case Studies on Reducing Greenhouse Gas
Emissions
The Green Press Initiative will soon be releasing a toolkit
designed to help companies in the book industry reduce their
impacts on global warming. In addition to using environmentally
responsible paper, many publishers, printers and mills have
taken steps to significantly reduce their use of energy, take
advantage of renewable energy sources, or offset a portion of
the greenhouse gas emissions they do produce.
If your company
has taken similar action, please send details to
todd@greenpressinitiative.org
for possible inclusion as a case study in the toolkit.
Sustainprint.com Awards Accepting Nominations
SustainPrint.com—a
web site for environmental sustainability in printing and
publishing, co-produced by Book Business magazine—has announced
a call for nominations for its second-annual SustainPrint.com
Awards.
The awards recognize two book publishers each year: the
"Newcomer of the Year" award for a publishing company which
recently implemented significant environmental sustainability
policy, and the "Longtime Leader" award for a publisher with a
history of environmentally conscious publishing practices.
To
nominate your publishing company or another company for either
award, e-mail a brief description of the company's efforts in
environmental sustainability to:
nskodzinski@napco.com
New Research & Reports
New Report on Forest Certification Highlights Why FSC is
Best Practice
A new report by EEM, Inc., a Montreal based environmental
consulting company, identified the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC)
as the best standard for forest certification. Though the
Sustainable Forestry Initiative (SFI) has taken positive steps
to make its board autonomous from the American Forest and Paper
Association, and to strengthen requirements for tracking fiber,
FSC is still widely regarded as adhering to the best practices
in forest management as it the only certification system that:
1) Adequately protects endangered forests 2) prevents conversion
of natural forests to single species tree plantations; and 3)
requires a consensus solution when conflicts arise with
indigenous communities. For a detailed comparison read
EEM Paper Buyer's Guide
Environmental Paper Network State of the Industry Report
Released
The Environmental Paper Network has released a new report
which evaluates a wide range of indicators related to
environmental performance of the paper industry. In addition to
highlighting the impacts of paper use on forests, and climate
change, the report emphasizes the need for an increase in
recovery and use of post-consumer waste, especially in the
printing and writing sector where on average there is only 6%
recycled content.
An executive summary and the complete report
can be downloaded at The
Environmental Paper Network .
Industry News from Mills, Merchants & Printers
Transcontinental Printing Develops Paper Procurement
Policy
Transcontinental Printing announced a paper procurement
policy that promotes the use of paper with maximized
post-consumer and de-inked recycled fiber. The policy also
encourages the use of paper made with pre-consumer recovered
fiber or alternative fibers in preference to virgin wood fiber.
For more information visit
Transcontinental Printing
More Suppliers Receive FSC Chain of Custody Certification
Asia Pacific Offset Limited, has received FSC chain of custody (CoC) certification for its
Hong Kong office for the purchase and sale of certified paper
and certified printed products. Most of the firm’s suppliers are
also working towards FSC certification by year’s end, according
to Andrew Clarke, President.
Odyssey
Press and
Thomson-Shore Book Manufacturing have also recently received FSC CoC certification.
Tools & Tips
Reducing Your Carbon Footprint Starts With Paper
Many publishers are taking steps to reduce their emissions of
greenhouse gases such as, using renewable energy, installing
efficient lighting, and reducing impacts associated with
transportation and travel. These steps are all important and
valuable, but any publisher that is serious about reducing its
impact on global warming must start with paper use. For some
large publishers that have conducted a carbon audit, the
greenhouse gas emissions associated with paper use can be up to
10 times greater than all other sources combined. Given that
100% recycled freesheet results in a 37% reduction in greenhouse
gas emissions compared to a sheet made entirely of virgin fiber,
significantly increasing the use of recycled content is likely
to result in the most significant reductions in greenhouse gas
emissions.
Energy Conservation Factsheet:
A factsheet for publishers, printers and mills with tips for
reducing energy use at the office is available at:
http://www.greenpressinitiative.org/documents/
energyfactsheet.pdf
Toolkits
Toolkits for publishers and printers who wish to reduce their
environmental and social impacts are available online. These
toolkits have been recently updated to provide the most recent
information about the Forest Stewardship Council and other
forest certification programs.
FSC Q&A
Frequently asked questions about Forest Stewardship Council
Certification can be found at:
http://www.greenpressinitiative.org/documents/ FSC_QA.pdf
This newsletter and the Green Press Initiative is made possible
through the support of the Richard and Rhoda Goldman Fund, Merck
Family Fund, Town Creek Foundation, FSC Global Fund, Wallace
Global Foundation, and the Weeden Foundation.
|
