Paper Production

Over the last few years larger publishers have sought to improve their environmental performance by sustainable paper procurement. This may mean sourcing FSC paper or, as in the case of Raincoast Books in Canada, producing the region's Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix on 100% recycled paper. However, sustainable paper - both FSC and recycled - are not easily sourced; there are real supply issues.

Did You Know?

Books & Trees

• Construction uses nearly two thirds (63.5%) of all domestic and imported timber in the UK, pallets and packaging (including cases, boxes, crates & barrels) nearly a quarter (23.9%) and fencing & outdoor just over 10%. Other markets (including furniture, transport, hoardings, domestic items and paper & pulp) account for only 2.5%.

  Source: Estimated Softwood Utilisation by Main Market by Volume - Improved Timber Utilisation Statistics 2005
  www.forestry.gov.uk

• Most UK paper production uses recovered waste or imported pulp. Graphic papers (including newsprint) accounted for 42.6% of the total UK paper production, packaging materials for 35.4% and sanitary & household papers for 16%.

  Source: UK Wood Production and Trade 2008
  www.forestry.gov.uk

• Book papers account for less than 1% of timber harvests. The U.S. Forest Service estimates that 35% of timber is used for paper and “composite products”. After factoring out the “composite products” component, the paper portion is something less than 35%. The American Forest & Paper Association (AF&PA) estimates that printing & writing papers account for 32% of the total paper market and book papers account for about 5.7% of that market. Multiplying the above values through, book papers would account for 5.7% of 32% of 35% of timber harvests, or 0.64%.

  Source: Bill Upton: Forest Growth (Malloy Incorporated)
  www.malloy.com

• In Europe, it is estimated that approx 400m m³ of wood is harvested a year. It takes roughly 3m³ to produce a ton of paper. The European book paper market (bulky mechanicals) is about 1.1m tonnes, corresponding to 3.3m³ of the 400m m³ which comes out at 0.01%.

  Source: Supplier of paper to UK book publishers

• A US study found there is a net emission of 8.85 pounds per average book sold. But the study also noted that books store a portion of the carbon from biomass in the products themselves and incinerating waste (although it has some of its own environmental risks) also recovers some energy, thus reducing overall emissions for the industry by 16.8%.

  Source: Environmental Trends and Climate Impacts: Findings from the US Book Industry
  www.bisg.org

Printed Books v E-Books

There is a considerable amount of conflicting information in circulation. Initially, some people jumped to the conclusion that e-books were more environmentally friendly than printed books but research shows it is far from that simple.

The EAG evaluates all the research on the carbon footprints of both printed and electronic books (e-books). There are many issues involved, not least of which is what should be included or excluded from any life cycle assessment. For instance, apart from the obvious use of energy, materials and transport in producing and distributing both types of publication, should the renewable resource of trees be compared to the non-renewable use of minerals in the production of e-readers? Printed books are also less likely to be discarded as quickly as e-readers (as new versions come onto the market), so does this also have an impact in the longer term? The studies published so far have all used different criteria and the EAG is unconvinced that there is a conclusive outcome. The four major reports from The Centre for Sustainable Systems at the University of Michigan, The Logistics Research Centre at Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh, The Cleantech Group and The KTH Centre for Sustainable Communications in Stockholm, have all included different data and come to different conclusions.

Kozack, Greg: Printed Scholarly Books and E-book Reading Devices: A Comparative Life Cycle Assessment of Two Book Options, Report No. CSS03-04, Centre for Sustainable Systems, University of Michigan, August 2003

Edwards, Julia & McKinnon, Alan & Cullinane, Sharon: Comparing CO2 emissions for conventional and online book retailing channels in the UK, Logistics Research Centre, Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh, April 2009

The Cleantech Group: The environmental impact of Amazon's Kindle, August 2009

Borggren, Clara & Moberg, Åsa: Pappersbok och elektronisk bok på läsplatta – en jämförande miljöbedömning, KTH Centre for Sustainable Communications, Stockholm, November 2009

Recycled Paper

There is much emotive comment around the whole recycling issue that, at times, tends to hide some key facts:

• Book papers are special paper grades where shade, brightness and bulk play an important role in the selection of the right paper quality for the printed book
• When recycled, fibre loses some of its strength, length and bulk
• A book paper made from recycled fibre has different characteristics - e.g.not bulky or bright enough for the reader
• A number of mills can add about 8-10% recycled pulp to the manufacturing mix without incurring the problems detailed above and many publishers paper grades already have this recycled percentage
• There isn't enough 100% recycled paper to satisfy demand
• Paper fibre cannot be recycled indefinitely - 5/6 times is the maximum amount before fibres become too short for re-use, meaning there must always be some virgin fibre included in recycled paper to counter deterioration
• Using recycled paper does not "save trees"; it simply reduces the number of trees that may need to be planted for the production of virgin fibre
• Recycled paper grades for black & white books are even scarcer than FSC stock and, in many cases, more expensive (either because of the cost of production and/or because of the need to purchase a higher grammage option to give the required bulk)
• The recent focus on carbon footprints has highlighted the considerable emissions from transportation and energy involved in the recycling process
• It isn't an easy, clean green quick-win
• Currently grades of paper with a high recycled content for the most part do not meet the specific practical and commercial requirements of book paper for the UK market
• Finally, papers with a high-recyled content for the most part do not meet the specific practical and commercial requirements of book paper for the UK market
• There are clear difficulties for publishers who wish to commit to only using recycled paper

Coupled with these is the decline of the paper mills. The number of mills that produce the book paper suitable for the publishing industry is falling as profits decline. In 2003, there were five Nordic book paper mills and one Canadian mill that supplied publishers with their paper needs for black & white titles; these mills belonged to the Stora Enso, Norske Skog, UPM and Abitibi mill groups. Over the last three years Norkse Skog and UPM moved out of the book market, but in part have been replaced very recently by Holmen. This means that there are now only two Nordic paper mills – Anjala (Stora Enso) & Hallsta (Holmen) – that can serve the book publishing market; both can provide a limited amount of FSC certified papers but no recycled grades. The Canadians, following the merger of Abitibi with Bowater, filed for Chapter 11 creditor protection in both Canada and USA in April and, therefore, are reviewing all markets and operations, including UK book supply from it’s Mersey mill; so, future supply from North American can no longer be guaranteed.

Book publishers can never exert enough global influence over paper manufacturers to alter book paper production quantities because paper purchases for the publishing industry are minute in global terms; they do not even constitute a defined market segment for the paper manufacturers. As of 2003, book paper consumption was only 1.8% of the total volume of paper consumed in the UK and just 0.26% of the overall global paper/board production of the four largest Nordic paper conglomerates - Stora Enso, UPM, Norske Skog and M-Real.

Therefore even the largest publishers do not necessarily have a strong negotiating position for making changes to their paper supply and few have alternatives if the mills do not offer the desired paper. There are other smaller mills located around Europe; however these can only offer limited volumes of book papers due to the lower production levels and these book papers are not necessarily sustainable grades. These small mills can't possibly supply all the demands of the UK, let alone the global publishing industry. In response to the low availability of recycled paper publishers have turned to certified paper.

Forestry Certification

During the last decade changes to paper production methods have led to the development of alternatives to recycled paper, such as Forestry Certified Paper.

Forestry certification is the sustainable management of forests, measured against a set of particular standards. An independent organisation develops standards of good forest management and independent auditors issue certificates to forest operators that comply with those standards. The certification verifies that forests are well managed - as defined by the standards - and ensures that certain wood and paper products come from responsibly managed forests. The implication is therefore that paper derived from forestry certified wood has been produced in such a way as to have little or no environmental impact and it is possible to compare them to recycled paper. Books produced using forest certified paper will specify which programme they are certified by through logos - usually FSC - on either their title verso or their back cover.

The rise of certification has led to the emergence of several different systems throughout the world - SFI (Sustainable Forest Initiative), PEFC (Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification Schemes), CSA (Canadian National Standard on Sustainable Forest Management Standard), FSC (Forest Stewardship Council) - and, as a result, there is no single accepted forest management standard worldwide and each system takes a somewhat different approach in defining standard of sustainable forest management. This is a significant problem.

Certification schemes have the potential to be a suitable alternative to recycled paper but they are not without their own issues. They do not necessarily address the existing issues of deforestation and the rights of indigenous peoples, and some schemes do not have clear minimum performance thresholds for forest management but rather review the status quo of the existing management system.

Forest certified papers also have similar supply issues to recycled paper, with not enough fibre produced from certified forests to meet the existing needs of book paper manufacturers, let alone with increased demands from the publishing industry. At this time it would be impossible for all UK publishers to choose to solely use forestry certified paper products. Furthermore, mills place a similar premium on certified paper as recycled paper. The relatively low availability of forest certified paper and the higher cost is a major stumbling block for publishers who are attempting to produce titles in the most responsible way possible.

It is important, however, to note that forestry certification schemes are a significant step towards realising the goal of the entire UK publishing industry producing their books in an environmentally sound way, and publishers have already moved to act on this. Random House, HarperCollins, Penguin and Egmont all source paper from certified forests, most notably FSC certified. The certified paper forms part of a supply chain where every step along the way is monitored and assessed for its systems and methods.

Forest Stewardship Council (FSC)

The best-known forestry certification scheme is run by the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC), founded in the 1990s by various environmental and forest welfare interested organisations. The FSC has a clear set of standards and monitoring expectations that are applied worldwide and certified forests are monitored annually to check their standards. This certification system is acknowledged to be far more rigorous than any other existing certification programme and this demanding set of standards has resulted in wide support from major environmental groups. Greenpeace is satisfied that FSC certified products (including paper) are of rigorous enough standard to be considered suitable as an alternative to recycled paper, citing the FSC as "the only credible global certification system".

There has been some criticism of the FSC's certification of forests in countries where there are no national performance standards and no accredited auditors, leading to allegations that the logging of ancient forests has taken place in some FSC certified forests. Importantly, even these organisations that have highlighted flaws in the FSC programme still acknowledge that the FSC is their preferred forest stewardship certification system, due to the exacting standards that the FSC demands.

The Programme for the Endorsement of Forestry Certification (PEFC)

The Programme for the Endorsement of Forestry Certification (PEFC) is not a single certification scheme but rather a programme of endorsement of individual European national forestry schemes, soon to be rolled out across the globe. There are different environmental concerns relating to each of the individually endorsed national programmes across Europe, but not every national programme has attracted criticism; many organisations, including the UK Government, are satisfied that PEFC timber is comparable to FSC timber and give them equal footing.

Criticism has been aimed at the PEFC's failure to encourage schemes that recognise the rights of indigenous peoples and also that certificates of assessment are issued every five years with random annual monitoring as opposed to the FSC requirement of annual monitoring of every forest.

Will all publishers ever be able to print all their titles on environmentally friendly paper? Unfortunately there is no clear answer, but it is evident that at the moment supply cannot meet demand, whether for recycled or forest certified paper products. It can only be hoped that as consumer demand for sustainable sourcing increases and businesses respond by supplying to these demands there will be a significant increase in the availability of recycled and certified paper, thereby driving down prices and making these papers the norm rather than the exception.

Take action on paper use

• Use FSC certified paper. Forest certification involves the certification of forests and the certification of wood flow via processing, manufacturing and trading enterprises to the final consumer
• Print the FSC consumer logo on your books
• Consider membership of the PREPS initiative
• Check whether your supplier supports ISO 14001 and support the PA's recommended accreditation scheme

Links

Useful sites for further research include:

Two Sides

Forest Stewardship Council (FSC)

The Programme for the Endorsement of Forestry Certification (PEFC)

Lovely as a tree

Green Futures

Paper Profile

The National Association of Paper Merchants

PREPS