Random House, Lantern Books Among ‘SustainPrint.com Leadership Award’ Winners for Environmental Sustainability Efforts
The first-ever SustainPrint.com Leadership Awards were announced Mon., March 5 at the Book Business/Publishing Executive Magazine Conference and Expo in New York. Random House, Inc., Lantern Books, Fast Company magazine and the National Wildlife Federation took home the inaugural awards, which recognize book and magazine publishing companies for their achievements in environmental sustainability. They are presented by SustainPrint.com, which was developed by Book Business and Publishing Executive magazines to provide a central location for information and resources on environmental sustainability in printing and publishing.
Two book publishers and two magazine publishers were recognized with inaugural honors.
“We believe that leaders in environmental sustainability efforts deserve recognition, and we are thrilled to be able to present the SustainPrint.com Leadership Awards to provide this recognition,” says Noelle Skodzinski, editor in chief of Book Business and Publishing Executive magazines, as well as SustainPrint.com. “The awards also will help share the stories of these publishers’ significant achievements so that other publishers can learn from their leadership and guidance. The winners of the first-annual SustainPrint.com Leadership Awards truly deserve this honor and are an inspiration to others in the industry.”
The editors of Book Business and Publishing Executive magazines also enlisted the input of a pair of industry experts on environmental sustainability among publishers—both of whom marveled at how far the industry’s efforts have come in the last several years.
“This awards program would have had a slim pool to pick from five years ago,” says Miller, whose Green Press Initiative (greenpressinitiative.org) targets book publishers. “Fortunately, today there are many environmental leaders and the list is growing.”
“Five years ago, this award would not have been possible, because there were not many magazines that were using recycled paper,” says Locantore, who directs Co-op America’s Magazine Paper Project (www.coopamerica.org). “Everyday the list grows, and now there is true competition for environmental leadership in the magazine industry.”
Newcomers of the Year
Random House, Inc. received the “Newcomer of the Year” award in book publishing in recognition of the company’s significant paper policy change announced in May 2006, which commits to a ten-fold aggregate increase in recycled fiber tonnage, within four years. This commitment means that over the course of the next four years a minimum of 30 percent of the uncoated paper Random House uses to print the majority of its U.S. titles will be derived from recycled papers. The policy change also reflects a significant upgrade from its previous baseline of three percent. Random House’s policy marks the first significant paper policy with goals and benchmarks to be developed by a multinational trade book publishing company. When fully realized, will represent an annual savings of more than 550,000 trees each year, an amount that would fill twenty of New York City’s Central Parks.
“It is a great motivator for Random House to be recognized with this leadership award from SustainPrint.com. We are proud to be in the vanguard among eco-aware book publishers and we will work very assiduously with our Random House colleagues, our suppliers, and our industry to continue to be worthy of this honor of leadership,” said Andrew Van Der Laan, director of production planning.
Fast Company magazine was awarded “Newcomer of the Year” in magazine publishing for its recent switch to entirely recycled paper. In fact, this FSC-certified paper is 80-percent post-consumer recycled in addition to being processed chlorine-free (PCF), meaning that no chlorine or chlorine compounds were used to “bleach” or “whiten” the paper. This is significant because when chlorine compounds combine with other organic material, they can produce dioxin, a known human carcinogen.
Longtime Leaders
Lantern Books received the book award as a “Longtime Leader.” Lantern was among the first book publishers to develop a meaningful environmentally friendly paper policy six years ago and since then has printed most of its books on 100-percent recycled paper. The company has also worked to support the development of new paper grades for the market and to engage printers in new stocking programs that have also had benefits for other publishers. Lantern also helped craft the Book Industry Treatise on Responsible Paper Use and currently serves on the Treatise Leadership Council.
The National Wildlife Federation (NWF) was awarded the “Longtime Leader” award among magazine publishers as its National Wildlife magazine was one of the first consumer magazines to use recycled paper. The organization has also supported FSC certification since its founding, and its coated magazine paper contains a minimum of 30-percent post-consumer recycled, Forest Stewardship Council (FSC)-certified fiber. The paper also is “whitened” without using any chlorine or chlorine-based compounds. In addition, the National Wildlife Federation engages its supply chain in a dialogue about its environmental concerns and goals. In doing so, it has been instrumental in convincing printers like Quad/Graphics and other small printers and merchants to seek FSC-certification. It has also worked collaboratively with paper manufacturer Stora Enso and environmental nonprofits to develop a new line of FSC-certified, post-consumer recycled papers.
About SustainPrint.com
SustainPrint.com serves as a central source for information and resources related to environmental sustainability for publishers and printers across all segments of the publishing industry. The site is presented by Book Business (www.BookBusinessMag.com) and Publishing Executive (www.PubExec.com) magazines. For more information, visit www.SustainPrint.com.