The Greenery

The Greenery is a showcase intended to share some of the latest news and insights regarding how the publishing industry is focusing on environmental success.

Our current Greenery spotlight is on the Magazine Publishers of America (MPA). The MPA is credited with organizing a variety of initiatives to enhance magazines’ environmental performance. Access to their efforts, including their Please Recycle Campaign, launched in 2007 can be seen by going to a special section of their website: http://www.magazine.org/environment/ .

What else is the MPA doing?

Publishers, printers, paper manufactures, distributors, and industry associations are collaborating on a variety of initiatives . These efforts are focused on three key objectives:

1. Increasing magazine recycling and paper recovery in general
2. Reducing unsold newsstand copies, and
3. Choosing environmentally preferable paper.The MPA has calculated that over 140 million people are reading magazines that include the Please Recycle logo in every issue.

Increasing the Recycling of Magazines: Although virtually all unsold newsstand copies are recycled, only about 20% of magazines are recycled by consumers after they are read. The industry is engaged in two major efforts to increase recycling behavior among consumers.

(1) The “Please Recycle” program, which helps educate consumers that magazines are recyclable, was launched by MPA in 2007. The two key components of the program are the “Please Recycle This Magazine” logo, which is designed to run on the masthead or table of contents page of participating titles, and a series of PSA’s which we encourage our members to run whenever space is available.

(2) The other major recycling effort is called “ReMix ” – an intensive public awareness campaign designed to educate the public on the recyclability of magazines and catalogs. Remix was conceived of and launched as a collaborative effort between Time Inc., Verso Paper, and the National Recycling Coalition. Other industry players, including Hearst and Quad Graphics have gotten involved on a regional basis. To date,ReMix has been implemented in five cities — New York, Boston, Portland, Milwaukee and the suburbs of Washington DC. In some markets, the program has increased recycling by as much as 20%. The possibility of takingReMix national is currently being assessed.

In addition to supporting these direct efforts to increase recycling, MPA and member companies have been strong supporters of national legislation to provide additional federal funds for local recycling infrastructure.

Reducing Unsold Newsstand Copies : The industry has been working successfully to reduce the number of unsold copies at newsstand. (Virtually all unsold copies are recycled.) In the last five years, because of improvements in the use of data in targeting the placement of copies, there has been a 12% increase in newsstand efficiency. This improvement has led to the removal of 450 million copies annually from the distribution system, with little or no negative impact on sales. Wal-Mart, which has recently taken a strong leadership position on environmental issues, has been a major player in this initiative and continues to work closely with the publishing industry to further reduce unsold newsstand copies.

Choosing Environmentally Preferable Paper: Paper is manufactured from wood fiber, which is in and of itself a renewable resource. In addition, trees absorb carbon. When managed in an environmentally sensitive manner, therefore, there is no reason why the manufacture and use of paper cannot be a accomplished in a manner consistent with the goals of sustainability. In light of this, there are several ways for the magazine industry to make environmentally responsible paper choices.

Publishers are increasingly seeking out paper made with a higher percent of fiber from sustainably-managed forests, i.e., forest land that has been certified by one of the internationally recognized forest certification programs or by regional programs that certify the forests of small landowners. These programs vary in detail, and not everyone agrees that they are equal in terms of the environmental standards they set. Nevertheless, at a minimum, they all seek to verify that the regeneration, growing and harvesting of trees is integrated with the protection of wildlife, plants, soil, air, and water quality. In addition, all certification programs include an independent third party audit to ensure compliance.

As new efforts and initiatives become available, we will update you via. The Greenery. Please check back often.