Melcher Media, University of Calif. Press, Boho and Ogden Publications Take Home 'Green' Awards
University of California Press, Melcher Media, Boho Magazine and Ogden Publications are being recognized for outstanding achievements in environmental sustainability. The four publishing organizations have been selected as the winners of the third-annual SustainPrint Awards, produced by Book Business and Publishing Executive magazines.
Two Longtime Leader Awards recognize a book and a magazine publisher that have made significant efforts and led the industry in environmental sustainability over a number of years, and two Newcomer of the Year Awards recognize a book and a magazine publisher that have recently taken steps to improve their companies' environmental sustainability efforts.
The University of California Press
The University of California Press, which established a corporate environmental sustainability policy in 1995, has received the Longtime Leader Award in book publishing. The press uses post-consumer recycled content paper in about 75 percent of its books—it publishes approximately 200 new books and 40 multi-issue journals annually. An estimated 50 percent of its titles are printed on Forest Stewardship Council (FSC)-certified paper, and 25 percent on paper certified by the Sustainable Forestry Initiative.
The dust jackets and paperback covers used also “usually contain recycled content. We strive to be 'green' from cover to cover,” says Anthony Crouch, the press' director of design and production.
“The University of California Press is honored to be the recipient of this Longtime Leader Award,” Crouch adds. “Many university presses are now increasingly supportive of the sustainable approach to our specifying and buying. For me it has been an education on this journey, to realize the legacy that we leave behind from our stewardship of the environment, and each of us in our own way, can make a contribution toward influencing the future outcome of our endeavors during our professional lives."
Melcher Media
Melcher Media, which “translates big-ticket brands into books” (e.g., HBO's “Entourage” and Harley-Davidson), established its corporate sustainability policy this year. Included are goals to measure the company's carbon footprint by the end of the year and to reduce greenhouse gas emissions linked to the company's publishing operations by 20 percent by 2020, and by 80 percent by 2050. The company uses 13 percent recycled content paper in its book production, and 7 percent post-consumer recycled paper. It is in the “early stages” of becoming FSC-certified, according to Kurt Andrews, production director at Melcher. In 2008, it manufactured four titles with FSC certification.
The company also manufactures a line of books, its Durabooks, on synthetic paper stock.
Ogden Publications
Ogden Publications—which publishes a number of magazines and books for “people interested in self-sufficiency, sustainability, rural lifestyles and farm memorabilia”—has been awarded the Longtime Leader Award in magazine publishing. Several of Ogden's publications, including Mother Earth News and Utne Reader, are printed on paper containing 85-percent post-consumer-recycled content. (Post-consumer recycled content is thought by some to be more environmentally friendly than recycled paper because it uses paper recovered from consumers, decreasing the amount of paper sent to landfills.) Mother Earth News has been printed on recycled-content paper since the early 1990s.
Boho
Boho Magazine, a “green” fashion-lifestyle magazine launched in 2008, has been chosen as the Newcomer of the Year in magazine publishing. It is the first fashion magazine to use 100-percent recycled content in its paper, packaging and inks. Its paper is also certified by the FSC as meeting its standards for well-managed and sustainable forests.
About the Awards
The 2009 SustainPrint Awards will be presented on March 23 at an awards dinner held during the Publishing Business Conference & Expo at the New York Marriott Marquis. For more information, visit http://www.PublishingBusiness.com (click on “events”).
The SustainPrint Awards winners are selected from nominations by a panel of judges. The 2009 SustainPrint judges were:
• Tyson Miller, executive director, Green Press Initiative
• Frank Locantore, Better Paper Project Director, Green America (formerly Co-op America)
• Andrew Van Der Laan, director, senior project manager, publishing operations project group, Random House Inc.
• Laura Hickey, senior director, global warming education, National Wildlife Federation
• Jennifer Alt, production and sustainability manager, Nickelodeon Magazine Group, and
• Emily Foote, managing editor, Chelsea Green Publishing.