Green between the covers

Nearly 40% of trees logged in Canada’s ancient forests and 65% of trees from Canada’s boreal forests are used to produce pulp and paper. Seems unnecessary, doesn’t it? What if every book you read, every paper you opened and every magazine you flipped through was printed on eco-friendly or recycled paper? Toronto’s Markets Initiative is working toward this accomplishment.

Markets Initiative is collaborating with Canadian publishers to shift their consumption of industrial papers to ecologically sustainable and eco-friendly options so that their purchases do not destroy ancient or endangered forests in Canada. Since 1999, over 160 Canadian publishers have made the switch to ancient forest friendly or eco-friendly paper.

The organization runs three primary campaigns in the book, magazine and newspaper sectors. About 1.1 million metric tonnes of newsprint were consumed in Canada in 2004 - the equivalent of 12 million trees. Canadian periodicals use about 110 000 tonnes of paper annually, while consumer magazines use an estimated 81 000 tonnes of paper every year.

As a result of Markets Initiative’s campaigns for ancient-forest and eco-friendly paper, North American mills have begun manufacturing 23 new papers that directly fit their environmental criteria or are ecologically improved.

Book authors that have made the switch include J.K. Rowling (all Harry Potter books in Canada are now printed on ancient forest friendly paper), Margaret Atwood, Alice Munro and Yann Martel. Toronto’s NOW Magazine is the first newspaper in Canada committed to being ancient forest friendly.

If you or your employer is involved in the publishing industry, check the Markets Initiative website for more information on how to green your paper consumption. We can all request via emails and letters that more Canadian publishers join the commitment to preserve our ancient and endangered forests.

Definitions:

• Ancient forest friendly paper:  In order to be ancient-forest friendly, a paper must be manufactured with a high percentage of recycled fibre or agricultural residue. Any virgin fibre used in the paper must be both Forest Stewardship Council certified and assessed not to originate from endangered forests. Bleaching must be chlorine free.
• Recycled paper: Paper that has been reconstituted to new fibre. Often paper labeled as recycled is a mix of pre-consumer, post-consumer and virgin fibres.
• Post-consumer recycled: A finished material made from paper that has been used by end consumers, diverted from landfill and reconstituted into post-consumer recycled fibre in a recycling mill.
• Pre-consumer/post-industrial recycled: Material or byproducts generated after a paper product is manufactured but before it reaches the end-consumer.
• Tree-free products: Products made from agricultural residue (usable materials recovered from annual crops as byproducts of food or fibre production) or agricultural fibres (non-wood plants grown intentionally for paper and other products).
• Chlorine-free products: Virgin products produced without the use of chlorine compounds, including elemental chlorine gas, chlorine compounds and chlorine derivatives.