GpI News
GPI Membership Program
GPI’s official membership program has launched. Member benefits
include consulting, employee training, environmental
calculations and analysis, a free copy the Environmental Trends
and Climate Impacts Report, networking opportunities, discounts
on industry events, discounts on products and services to help
reduce environmental impacts, and use of the GPI logo. For more
information about membership, and to signup securely online go
to
www.greenpressinitiative.org/membership.htm
In the news
Book Industry
Environmental Council Makes Significant Progress
Since its inaugural meeting in June, the Book Industry
Environmental Council has made significant progress in all three
of its top priority areas. Subcommittees focusing on each of the
priorities (tracking industry progress, developing an industry
wide eco-label, and calculating and setting goals for the
industry’s carbon footprint) have all developed proposals which
were discussed in depth at a meeting on September 17th.
These proposals will be further refined and will likely be voted
on by the council in January, 2009. The Council consists of more
than 35 companies and organizations in the book industry working
together to track and reduce the industry’s environmental
impacts.
FSC Certified Printers Can Get Blanket Logo Approval
It is now possible for FSC certified printers to get a
blanket approval for use of the on product label for FSC
certified print jobs. Printers who receive this blanket approval
do not have to submit every print job for review and approval
before printing the FSC label. To receive blanket logo
approval, printers must demonstrate to their certification body
that they understand the rules and regulations of using the FSC
label and understand how to apply it to a variety of paper
grades for a variety of projects. Printers can consult the FSC
on-product labeling standard (page 5, section 1.5, and “note”).
The note is vague, which allows for certification bodies to
issue blanket approvals under their discretion.
FSC printers may also use the
following FSC-approved language, which explains the benefits of
FSC certification, to accompany the FSC logo:
"This logo identifies paper that
meets the standards of the Forest Stewardship Council. FSC is
widely regarded as the best practice in forest management,
ensuring the highest protections for forests and indigenous
peoples."
These two steps should help
printers and their customers make better promotional use of FSC
on product labeling. It is important for publishers to keep in
mind that FSC chain of custody certification does not mean that
all the products supplied by a printer are FSC certified.
Lacey Act Expanded to
Address Illegally Sourced Forest Products
The Lacey Act, a long standing law preventing the
possession, sale and transport of illegally obtained wildlife
products, has recently been expanded to apply to plant and
forest products, including paper. Importers must now declare the
country of origin and the name of the species that make up wood
and paper products. GPI has always encouraged publishers and
paper suppliers to better understand the source of their fiber,
so the changes to this law are undoubtedly a positive step. It
is, however, important for everyone in the book industry to keep
in mind that this law only addresses illegally harvested wood.
Just because paper is sourced legally does not mean it was
harvested in an environmentally responsible manner. The best way
to ensure that paper has been sourced from well managed forests
it use Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certified papers. To see
answers frequently asked questions about the Lacey act, click
here.
The Secret Life of Paper
INFORM Inc, an organization that focuses on identifying
sustainable practices has released a video titled “The Secret
Life of Paper”. This short video discussed the impacts of paper
on climate change and endangered forests. The video also
discusses solutions including reducing paper consumption, using
recycled fiber, and ensuring that virgin fiber is FSC certified.
The video (approximately 5 minutes in length) can be viewed
here
New Research & Reports
Environmental Trends
Report Free to GPI Members, 30% Discount for Members of
Publishing Industry Associations/Organizations
The report titled Climate Impacts and Environmental
Trends: Findings from the U.S. Book Industry, which was
developed by Green Press Initiative, and the Book Industry Study
Group, discusses environmental trends in the book industry, and
calculates the carbon footprint of the industry. The report is
free to GPI members, and a discount of 30% is available to
non-members who belong to a book industry association or
organization. The report can be ordered at:
https://www.greenpressinitiative.org/orderform.htm
New Report Finds Old Growth Forests are a Net Sink of Carbon
A new report which appeared in Nature finds that old
growth forest store more carbon than they release. Worldwide,
forests between 15 and 800 years old remove a net 1 billion
metric tons of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere each year.
This study, which analyzed more than 500 forests worldwide,
challenges the conventional wisdom that old growth forests give
off as much carbon as they take in and are thus carbon neutral.
The authors of this report argue that, based on this research,
the Kyoto Protocol and other “Cap and Trade” systems for
greenhouse gases should allow credits for protecting old growth
forests. For more information see:
http://www.forbes.com/feeds/ap/2008/09/11/ap5412821.html
WRI Report, Indonesia
and Brazil Key Hotspots of Deforestation
A new report by the world Resources Institute finds that
deforestation is not occurring in an even distribution
throughout the world, but instead is intensely centered on a
handful of “hotspots”. The study, which relied on satellite
imagery, rather than government supplied data, found that over
60% of the world’s clear cuts occur in just two countries—Brazil
and Indonesia. For more information about the report see:
http://www.wri.org/stories/2008/07/groundbreaking-study-finds-hotspots-most-responsible-for-deforestation
Industry News from Mills, Merchants & Printers
Number of Printers
with FSC Certification Continues to Expand
Over the course of the past year, the number of book
printers that have obtained FSC chain of custody (CoC)
certification has increased dramatically. Currently there are
over 15 North American printers in the book industry that have
FSC CoC certification including:
Bang Printing, Courier, Delta Printing Solutions, FibreMark,
Friesens, King Printing, Marquis, Monroe Litho, McNaughton and
Gunn, Odyssey Press, Inc., Pinnacle Press, RR Donnelley,
Quebecor, Sawyer Printers, Sheridan Books, Thomson Shore,
Transcontinental Printing, and Webcom Limited.
Several more book printers are in
the process of obtaining FSC CoC certification.
AbitibiBowater Takes
Positive Steps, Called to do More
Earlier this month, AbitibiBowater announced that it intends
to have 3 forest units in Canada, totaling 8 million acres, or
18% of the companies total landholdings, certified to Forest
Stewardship Council (FSC) standards. In June, the company
announced that it would stop logging from the traditional lands
of the Grassy Narrows First Nation, an indigenous community in
northern Ontario, which has had a blockade in place for more
than 5 years to prevent logging on the land which they have been
granted rights to by the Canadian government. While these are
clearly positive steps, AbitibiBowater needs to do more to
ensure sufficient protections for intact and critical
forests in Ontario and Quebec. They are continuing to receive
pressure from Greenpeace to take more action along these lines. On September 24th, Greenpeace held a
protest at the company’s headquarters in Montreal, with some
activists occupying the company’s offices.
For more information about AbitibiBowater’s announcement to
obtain FSC certification, see:
http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/080903/mo444.html?.v=4
For More information about the company’s decision to stop
logging on the traditional land of the Grassy Narrows First
Nation see:
http://www.ens-newswire.com/ens/jun2008/2008-06-09-03.asp
For more information about
Greenpeace’s protest of AbitibiBowater see:
http://www.greenpeace.org/canada/en/recent/boreal-forest-destruction
Maple-Vail adds
THINKTech to Environmental Practices
Maple-Vail, which has long supplied environmentally
responsible papers and has initiatives in place to minimize
their environmental impacts, recently announced the THINKTech
printing process. The system uses an ink and fountain solution
which dries rapidly, reduces Volatile Organic Compound (VOC)
emissions to 1-2.5% ,and uses significantly less energy.
Maple-Vail is also in the process of obtaining FSC Chain of
Custody certification. For more information about Maple-Vail’s
environmental initiatives please see:
http://www.maple-vail.com/environmental
Cascades Measures
Carbon Footprint
Cascades fine papers has just published their carbon
footprint and compared their average greenhouse gas emissions to
the industry average. Because Cascades uses a high portion of
recycled fiber, and uses a combination of hydro-electric power,
and biogas recovered from a nearby landfill to power their mill,
the company’s carbon footprint is significantly smaller than the
industry average. For more information see:
http://www.environmentalbychoice.com/Cascades_Carbon_Footprint_US.pdf
Tools & rESOURCES
Updated Paper and Supplier
Listings
Updated lists of environmentally responsible papers and
printers that stock environmental grade papers are available at
http://www.greenpressinitiative.org/action/suppliers.htm
Toolkit for publishers
is available at:
http://www.greenpressinitiative.org/documents/BookPublisherToolkit.pdf
Toolkit for Printers is
available at:
https://www.greenpressinitiative.org/documents/PrinterToolkit.pdf
This newsletter and the Green Press Initiative is made possible
through the support of the Richard and Rhoda Goldman Fund, Lisa
and Douglas Goldman Fund, Merck
Family Fund, The Overbrook Foundation, Town Creek Foundation, Wallace
Global Foundation, and the Weeden Foundation.
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