Green news from the pulp and paper industry in North America

I read two interesting stories this week with a promise for a better future for the forests and the paper industry in North America.

The first story is not all that new, but I read about it only this week, so it was new to me :) It is about Georgia-Pacific (GP), one of the largest wood and paper products companies operating in the Southern United States, which announced that "it will no longer purchase trees from endangered forests and special areas, or from new pine plantations established at the expense of natural hardwood forests."

NRDC, which worked with GP to develop this new policy (together with other environmental groups - Dogwood Alliance and Rainforest Action Network) explained in a press release from last November that "While GP’s new forest policy applies to all of its operations, as a first step in implementing its commitment on Endangered Forests and Special Areas, GP worked with the environmental groups and scientists to identify 11 Endangered Forests and Special Areas totaling 600,000 acres in the Mid-Atlantic Coastal Eco-Region, as well as 90 million acres of natural hardwood forests in the Southern region. Endangered Forests and Special Areas in other regions will be mapped in a similar process, over the coming years."

The South’s natural forests are home to more plant and animal species than anywhere else in North America, yet less than two percent of the region's forests are protected, and the South produces more wood and paper than any other place in the world.

This is an important step - “No other U.S. company has demonstrated this level of initiative in mapping unique forests across such a broad region,” said Debbie Hammel, NRDC Senior Resource Specialist in the NRDC's press release. And as Zacary Shahan of Planetsave that wrote on this story this week said "hopefully, the NRDC, RAN, and Dogwood Alliance can get other companies to follow suit soon."

The second story is definitely new - AFP reported yesterday that Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper announced a 278-million-dollar (279-million US) investment to help Canada's pulp and paper industry become more environmentally friendly.

"Speaking in Windsor, Quebec, Harper said Ottawa would namely allocate nearly 25 million dollars to paper manufacturer Domtar Corporation to help its pulp and paper mill "invest in energy-efficient and environment-friendly technologies."

The 24.8-million-dollar (24.9-million US) investment is part of the government's much touted Pulp and Paper Green Transformation Program, which seeks to help mills in Canada reduce their greenhouse gas emissions and produce renewable energy from forest biomass. The rest of the investment would go to plants in New Brunswick, Alberta and British Columbia."

Harper is not considered very green and is blamed for refusing to make combating climate change a priority, so it will be interesting to see if he will prioritize the efforts to green up the pulp and paper industry in Canada. He himself said about the new investment in the industry that "I'm well aware of the criticisms. But what we need are concrete measures in order to really meet those targets. And this government has been the first one to take concrete measures such as the one being announced today."

Yours,
Raz @ Eco-Libris

Eco-Libris: Promoting sustainable reading!

Green Books Campaign: Canopy is supporting the campaign and presenting their work with the book industry

We're happy to begin the Green Books Campaign's day with a guest post from our friends at Canopy. Based in Canada, Canopy is one of the most important forces pushing the book industry towards greater sustainability in the last decade and we're proud to have it as one of the supporters of the campaign (just like the Green Press Initiative, which we presented here couple of days ago).

Best known for our work to green the Harry Potter series internationally with the support of author J.K. Rowling, Canopy works to protect the world’s forests, species and climate by leveraging market forces to help publishers, printers and paper producers adopt environmental policies and practices that ensure conservation on the ground. Eco-Libris’ Green Books campaign bolsters this movement to include wider consumer engagement. Given that 60-80% of a publisher’s environmental footprint is attributable to the papers it prints its books on, we are excited to work with the Eco-Libris Green Books Campaign to help book lovers save the world’s forests by choosing books that are printed on environmental papers.

Canopy works with more than 700 publishers and printers, including Random House, Scholastic and Lonely Planet, and literary giants such as Alice Munro and Margaret Atwood, to reduce dramatically the impact book production has on our fragile planet. By harnessing the purchasing influence of major publishers and printers, Canopy has been able to broker large-scale conservation agreements such as the Great Bear Rainforest Agreement and the world’s largest conservation initiative, the new Boreal Forest Agreement. It is through such major agreements that real conservation progress is made.

Such progress is thanks in no small part to the remarkable changes we’ve seen in the past decade since starting our work with book publishers. The marketplace has progressed from no environmental book-grade papers being commercially available in North America in 2000, to millions of books now being printed on environmental papers. As a book lover, that’s good news!

Recognizing the critical role that book lovers and retailers play in the industry, Canopy also works with market leaders such Indigo Books & Music to help them not only green their own business practices, but also foster environmental leadership within the publishing industry. Our joint work with Indigo also enables readers to make informed purchasing decisions by transparently providing information about a book’s environmental qualities online and at store kiosks.

So how can you tell if a book is printed on environmental paper? Consumers should look for one of the following:

• An eco-audit at the back of a book, listing exactly what kind of paper each part of the book (pages, cover) contains
• The Ancient Forest Friendly label
• Statements that the book is printed on 100% Post Consumer Recycled paper, or on Forest Stewardship Council certified paper

This information may be included in a number of places in the book, including the back jacket, inside jacket, or the copyright page, directly after the title page.

As the final stop in the supply chain – the demand – readers are of course essential to the success of both individual titles and the overall industry. Know that you can be the tail that wags the dog in a greener direction. Vote with your wallet: purchase books that are printed on environmental papers. Your support of publishers and retailers who are taking environmental leadership and campaigns such as this helps increase demand for responsibly sourced books. And that helps position organizations like Canopy as stronger advocates for the world’s forests, species, and climate.

We want to thank again Canopy for their support of the campaign and assistance in getting the word out! You can find more information about Canopy's work, as well as resources on the impacts of the book industry and available eco-friendly paper options at http://www.ecolibris.net/greenbooksresources.asp

The Campaign's page is www.ecolibris.net/greenbookscampaign2010.asp .You can also follow the campaign on Facebook and twitter.

Yours,
Raz @ Eco-Libris

Eco-Libris: Promoting green reading!

Indigo Partners with Eco-Libris to Promote Green Books

Indigo Books & Music, the largest book retailer in Canada, but also a green leader among book retailers worldwide. And they are also partnering with Eco-Libris on the Green Books Campaign.

Yes, we're very happy to have the support of of Indigo Books & Music, as part of its efforts to draw attention to the need for more environmental paper in book publishing. This is a core goal of Indigo's environmental program and is reinforced by Indigo's industry leading environmental paper policy. You can read more about it on Indigo's environment page.

One of the things I like most about Indigo is that they're the only retailer that actually provides readers with an easy way to find information on books that are printed on eco-friendly paper. It is integrated in their advance search options and it's very easy to use. This is just one part one their sustainable efforts, but has a great significance - otherwise, how readers that want to buy a book online can actually tell if it's printed on eco-friendly paper on not? I can only hope other retailers will follow Indigo's leadership and provide readers with this information.

Last week Indigo issued a press release on the campaign, which is enclosed below:

Indigo Partners with Eco-Libris to Promote Green Books

- Blogger Engagement Campaign to raise awareness of sustainable book publishing -

TORONTO, Nov. 3 /CNW/ - On November 10, 2010, at 1:00 pm EST, Eco-Libris in partnership with Indigo Books & Music is launching a campaign to use the power of the internet and social media to raise awareness of books printed on environmental paper and its significance to forest conservation. Two hundred bloggers will review their selections from 200 books that have been printed on recycled paper and/or are FSC certified. These books will encompass an assortment of mainstream adult and children's titles.

Indigo is pleased to be the only book retailer supporting Eco-Libris in these awareness efforts. Participation in this campaign highlights Indigo's commitment to the use of environmental papers in book publishing, a core goal of Indigo's environmental paper policy which aims to eliminate the use of wood fibre from endangered forests and facilitate a broader sustainability shift in the publishing and paper supply chain.

Michelle White, Director, Sustainability at Indigo Books & Music said, "Indigo has a strong forest conservation mandate and we believe that physical books printed on environmental paper are a sustainable choice. We commend Eco-Libris for reinforcing this message and engaging readers to take this issue into consideration when purchasing books. In fact, Indigo provides information online and though in-store kiosk that allows consumers to make informed decisions about where the paper content of their book comes from".

"The Green Books Campaign celebrates sustainable reading, presenting booklovers worldwide with great options in books that are printed using eco-friendly paper. Although there's so much hype today around e-books, books printed on paper remain dominant in book retailing and it is important to us all that they will be as environmentally sound as possible," says Raz Godelnik, CEO of Eco-Libris. "We are happy to collaborate with Indigo in this campaign as not only they are a green leader in the book industry, but they are also the only book retailer that actually provides readers with an easy way to find information on books that are printed on eco-friendly paper."

To learn more about Indigo's environmental program, please go to chapters.indigo.ca/environment.

About Indigo Books & Music Inc.

Indigo is a publicly traded Canadian company listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX:IDG). As the largest book retailer in the country, Indigo operates in all provinces under different banners including Indigo Books & Music; Indigo Books, Gifts, Life; IndigoSpirit, Chapters, The World's Biggest Bookstore, and Coles. The online division, www.chapters.indigo.ca, features books, eBooks, toys, music and DVDs, and hosts the award winning Indigo Online Community. In 2008, Indigo launched Pistachio, an eco-aware lifestyle store featuring stationery, gifts and home décor, and apothecary.

Yours,
Raz @ Eco-Libris

Eco-Libris: Promoting sustainable reading!

Office paper made of Australian wheat - A green solution for the Aussies, and here?

We reported here in the past on the challenging task of establishing wheat straw as an alternative source to paper that comes from trees. One major landmark was the release of the Canadian National Geographic magazine's 2008 June issue, which was printed using 20% wheat straw. Now it looks like another landmark is achieved when 100% wheat straw paper becomes available for office use.

Springwise reports on an Australian company, Nature's Paper, which provides eco-friendly A4-A3 Copy paper made from Wheat Straw. Their promise is very simple:

"Our wheat straw paper looks, feels and performs like standard copy paper and is priced similar to standard copy paper."

Firstly, we have to clarify that when we say wheat we talk about the straw, which is usually considered residue, and not the grains that are typically used for products such as flour and cereal. Nature's Paper collects the wheat straw that is typically gets left in the fields to decompose and converts it to a quality paper pulp.

Why they do it? they explain on their website:

"We looked at our options and we were alarmed at the massive amount of trees cut down to make paper in Australia each year. 17 trees are cut down and wood chipped for every tonne of paper used in Australia and with 1.6 million tonnes of paper per year produced in Australia alone, that’s tens of millions of trees wood chipped in paper production each year.

By producing a high quality product for everyday use in printing emails, reports, flyers, invoices, plans, schedules etc that costs the same or less than you may currently be paying, AND places your business in a more environmentally conscious position, Nature’s Paper hopes to save millions of trees every year without it costing you the earth."

They are definitely right in choosing to focus on wheat, as wheat's carbon footprint is not only smaller from wood-sourced paper, but also from other agricultural residue options. The Canadian organization Canopy, which is committed to promoting the market development of papers using agricultural residue fibers, did a comparison between the carbon footprints of couple of options and found the following results (the footprint is per hectare):

Wheat straw - 0.8-1.2

Wood (Aspen) - 2.3-2.7

Flax straw - 2.3 -2.6

Wood (Spruce) - 3.9- 5.7

With these figures it looks very clear why wheat straw should be considered as an eco-friendly alternative to wood as the source of paper. And if it has the similar quality and pricing as "regular" paper, is there any reason your office shouldn't take it at least for a trial?

Well, if you're in Australia, definitely not. But what happens if your office is in the U.S. or Canada, where you can purchase the wheat straw from their local distributor, Enviro Green? Is the paper's footprint still significant lower after making all the long way from Australia to North America? I'm not so sure about it.

When the special National Geographic issue was printed, Canopy explained that the wheat straw used for it was imported from China because they couldn't find the large volume required for such a project in North America. Nevertheless, they explained that importing the wheat straw from China wasn't a sustainable solution and their vision is to help building the necessary production capacities in Canada and North America. I think the same logic applies to office paper made of wheat as well, so I hope that we'll soon have a local source of 100% office paper made of wheat straw in North America that will be a true sustainable alternative for local offices (at least those who are not paperless yet..).

If such a local source already exists, we'll be happy to hear from you. Please add a comment with the details.

Yours,
Raz @ Eco-Libris

Eco-Libris: Promoting sustainable reading!