Random House
Book Industry Treatise on Environmentally Responsible Publishing
Its comprehensive name describes with precision for what it stands for. The Book Industry Treatise on Environmentally Responsible Publishing was developed with the insight and collaboration of over 25 stakeholders, among which there were big and small, trade and academic publishers, printers, paper mills, manufacturers and merchants. This was a treatise developed by book professionals for book professionals, and I personally believe that is what makes it worth of account.
The agreement sets “attainable and measurable goals for improving the social and ecological footprint of the book industry”. The goals comprise:
- “Addressing global warming through the use of recycled fibre and renewable energy”: Specifically, shift the book industry’s consumption of paper to PWC, in a long-term basis;
- “Supporting the use of additional non-wood recovered fibres”: For instance, by supporting the use of renewable energies, such as wind, and by purchasing paper manufactured with wind;
- “Protecting Endangered and Highest Value Forests”. This supposes not using wood fibre from regions as the tropical rainforests in Latin America;
- “Supporting Best Practices in Forest Management”, for instance, by shifting the book industry’s paper consumption to certified paper only (FSC, PEFC, etc.);
- “Reducing Production Impacts”, by increasing the use of low VOC, soy-based inks and least toxic materials;
- “Recycling and Reducing Consumption”;
- “Human Rights”. Support the indigenous and local communities through the use of virgin papers that are FSC certified, and also ensure for the provision of fair wages and work conditions of the labours involved in overseas book production;
- “Transparency”. Signatories have to track their progress towards meeting the goals of the Treatise and report it.
A Leadership Council, composed by 10 publishers, printers, paper manufacturers and merchants (among which there are Harvard University Press, Chronicle Books and the organisation Green Press Initiative), was responsible for the implementation of the agreement and will conduct its future revisions. In 2013, the treatise has already been signed by 250 US book publishers, according to data provided on Eco-Libris.
While I was doing my research, I did not find any other agreement like this, exclusively dedicated to sharing environmental policies and more responsible practices for book production. This document is focused on the US book industry, but equally large book markets, such as the UK, would benefit from a “sector-wide holistic agreement on paper and publishing”, like this one.
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
Publishing gets green 