Groups
PREPS – Publishers’ Database for Responsible Environmental Paper Sourcing
PREPS is a joint initiative of 23 publishers from all around the world. It was established in 2006 to provide to its members a better understanding of papers resources and responsible paper practices. Its current members are:
- Cambridge University Press
- Cappelen Damm
- Chronicle Books
- Egmont UK
- Hachette UK
- HarperCollins
- Imago
- Laurence King
- Macmillan
- McGraw-Hill Education
- Meld
- Oxford University Press
- Parragon
- Pearson Education
- Penguin Group UK
- Random House
- Reed Elsevier
- Sage Publications
- Scholastic
- Simon & Schuster
- Usborne Books
- Walker Books
- Wiley
The group is an evolution of an idea initially developed by Egmont UK, who created in 2003 a Grading System now known as the PREPS Grading System. Drawn by the project, 10 publishers then launched PREPS in 2006: Egmont, Imago, Walker, Usborne Books, Hachette, Pearson, Reed Elsevier, Penguin, Sage and HarperCollins.
The group developed a database with technical specification of the woods, wood fibre, pulps and respective forest sources of the papers used by each one of them, as well as data on the CO2 emissions and water consumption of the paper mills with whom they work.
The PREPS Grading System is based on this information and is provided by paper mills. Every time that one of the 23 members wants to use a new type of paper, a request is sent to PREPS Secretariat (run by a management consultancy specialised in Corporate Responsibility), that then asks for information about the paper to the corresponding mill. The information returns, being added to PREPS database and graded according to the PREPS Grading System, on a range from 1 to 5 stars. Usually the paper is awarded as 1, 3 of 5, meaning:
Grade 1: Paper containing unknown or undesirable forest sources
Grade 3: Paper where all the forest sources are known, legal, low risk or either FSC or PEFC accredited
Grade 5: Paper which is FSC or 100% PEFC accredited or 100% PCW
PREPS also organises meetings and seminars, keeping the dialogue between publishers and paper manufacturers up to date. In 2012, PREPS access was additionally extended to printers. I believe this is an expression of a general willingness in book publishing, and specifically of these 23 publishing houses, to work closer with suppliers, so that more sustainable, green-certified products, can be provided to book buyers around the world.
Images credit: PREPS
PGN – Publishers Green Network
The Publishers Green Network is a voluntary, non-profit organisation formed by members of the publishing industry based in the UK. It was founded in 2007 by members of Pearson, Alastair Sawday Publishing and Hachette to promote environmental awareness at grass-roots level, providing help on green practices and ecological initiatives to “any executives involved in environmental initiatives within their publishing houses”.
The group is open to anyone, regardless the position, role or department, and its initiatives are aimed to all UK publishing houses, from the largest groups to the most independent publishers. At the moment, 30 publishing houses are involved in the network. Meetings are held twice a year on a wide range of matters: energy reduction initiatives, environmental staff engagement, supply chain integrity, waste management and the impact of digitisation, juts to mention some of a broader list.
Certainly, a good initiative to keep professionals, from all areas of publishing, informed about greener trends in book production.
Image credit: Facebook Publishers Green Network
Publishing gets green 