Special Report: Celebrating 'Green' Publishing
Publishers’ “green” efforts took center stage at the 3rd Annual SustainPrint Awards Dinner, held March 23 at New York City’s Marriott Marquis Times Square, during the Publishing Business Conference & Expo. Two book publishers were recognized for their significant achievements in environmental sustainability: Melcher Media—winner of the Newcomer of the Year Award in Book Publishing (awarded to a company that recently implemented significant environmental sustainability efforts)—and the University of California Press—winner of the Longtime Leader Award in Book Publishing (awarded to a company with a significant history of environmental sustainability). Boho magazine and Ogden Publications received this year’s SustainPrint Awards in magazine publishing. ‘Green’ Beginnings
Melcher Media—whose books are based on big-ticket brands like HBO and Harley-Davidson—developed its corporate environmental 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, which has more than 120 titles and 12 million books in print, 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 Forest Stewardship Council (FSC)-certified. In 2008, it manufactured four titles with FSC certification.
The company also manufactures a line of books, its DuraBooks, on synthetic paper stock.
Duncan Bock, Melcher’s editorial director, accepted the award on behalf of Melcher Media, and Bonnie Eldon, associate publisher, also attended the event.
‘Green’ for More Than a Decade
The University of California Press established a corporate environmental sustainability policy in 1995. It publishes approximately 200 new books and 40 multi-issue journals each year, and uses post-consumer recycled-content paper in about 75 percent of its books. An estimated 50 percent of its titles are printed on FSC-certified paper, and 25 percent on paper certified by the Sustainable Forestry Initiative (SFI). Much of the paper is produced using biogas.
