Green Manufacturing Gains Momentum

There's little doubt that interest in sustainability issues has increased dramatically across the publishing supply chain in recent years. Issues like forest certification weren't even on the radar screen until a few years ago, industry insiders note. But today there's a lot of buzz, with green topics on the agenda of just about every major conference. “Just a couple of years ago, only a handful of people would show up for sessions on sustainability at industry meetings,” says one manufacturing CEO. “Today it's not unusual to see 150 people gathered to talk about topics like chain-of-custody certification standards, recycling and climate change.”

Opinions vary as to what is causing this ramped-up interest. Some in the industry believe it's simply the desire to “do the right thing,” fueled by the flood of environmental information now generally available. Others believe trade publications have increased awareness and interest. Still others argue that activist environmental nongovernmental organizations (ENGOs) are driving the sustainability agenda.

For some, sustainability is just a natural fit with the publishing industry. “People in our industry have a passion for books,” says the CEO of a leading manufacturer. “Books convey new ideas, inform, educate, support change, entertain... and there's a certain responsibility that goes along with that.”

Whether they're actively engaged or still on the periphery of sustainability issues, most book publishers, large and small, like the idea that their supply chain partners are offering green choices. “Most of the very large publishers already have widespread environmental policies and programs in place, from energy conservation strategies to employee education,” says Courier Corporation v-p Peter Tobin. “They want to collaborate with printers and paper suppliers who have active sustainability programs that reflect their values. We're seeing more and more requests for collaboration from publishers of all sizes.”

Among Courier's efforts is the Green Edition labeling program. “We offer this label to publishers whose books are printed on recycled-content paper and printed in the United States, which reduces the environmental impacts of distribution,” Tobin says. As part of this program, Courier also encourages publishers to calculate the environmental benefits of recycled stock versus 100% virgin freesheet using the Environmental Defense Fund Paper Calculator and to print those results on the copyright page of their titles.

“Very early we committed ourselves to sustainability, wrote a specific environmental and paper procurement policy and launched the eco-friendly Legacy line of certified and recycled papers,” says Mike Collinge, president and CEO of Webcom Inc., Toronto, which produces 40 million books annually. “Today we're quite proactive in communicating with customers about the environment, and we co-sponsored the Paper Futures conference organized by Markets Initiative in October to educate print users.”

Collinge adds, “We've gotten great response to our environmental tracking report, which includes a customized analysis of a given customer's paper usage, including both FSC [Forest Stewardship Council] and recycled content, along with a recommendation for a shift in paper types that's even more environmentally beneficial and—very important—a comparison to our 'average' publisher's usage.” Publishers say this comparison helps them track their progress, Collinge notes, gives them ideas regarding their environmental goals and motivates them to strive for more gains.

Complex Issues

Thomson-Shore CEO Myron Marsh describes publishers' interest in sustainability as a bell curve. “Publishers on one end are very engaged in sustainability issues and those on the other end have not engaged at all,” he says. “In the middle is a huge group who are not yet proactively involved, but are glad their supply chain partners are offering green choices. Those of us—manufacturers, paper suppliers and publishers—who are already involved have a responsibility to help that middle group figure out the right choices and provide clarity on sustainability.”

Unfortunately, the right choices are not always clear. The issues, from sustainable forestry and certification to recycled content and global climate change, are complex, and dueling experts on virtually every topic create a confusing landscape. “We're not only getting more sustainability questions from our customers, we're getting a more diverse array of questions,” says Glatfelter product manager Laura Brown. “Our customers have no single definition of or solution to sustainability.”

Glatfelter marketing director Melissa Klug agrees, citing pressure from ENGOs as a barrier to communication. “There is so much pressure from environmental groups to focus on their individual priorities that it's sometimes difficult to get across the broader sustainability message,” she says. “For example, many of our book manufacturing customers have dual chain-of-custody certifications—FSC and Sustainable Forestry Initiative [SFI]—and they understand that both are credible. But their customers are asking only for FSC. Unfortunately, this too often drives a 'check-the-box' mentality instead of a focus on real environmental improvement.”

John Edwards, president and CEO of Edwards Brothers Inc., concurs, saying that more and better education on issues like certification is needed, but right now no one seems to be providing it. “There's a lot of confusion between SFI and FSC, which are very similar. There's much more SFI-certified paper available than FSC, but when we mention SFI-certified paper to customers, it just doesn't register,” he says. “If SFI had the same brand recognition as FSC, a lot of people would jump to that stock right away, but nobody seems to be providing this education.”

Frank Edmunds, sales and marketing v-p for ICG Holliston, agrees that many people still don't understand that the nature of books is inherently sustainable. His company makes book coverings primarily from cotton, vegetable starches and solvent-free coatings. “Cotton is a renewable resource, but people just don't seem to grasp what that really means,” he says. Lack of understanding about forest certification presents an additional challenge for Holliston. “Many people ask if our products are certified to the FSC or SFI standards,” Edmunds says. “We then have to explain that while it's one of the most renewable resources available, cotton is not a forest product so those standards don't apply.”

Courier's Tobin says that helping to educate publishers on the various options available to them is one of the greatest challenges and opportunities for book manufacturers. “There is no panacea that accomplishes green for everyone,” he says. He cites the drive to use recycled content as another example. “We hear a lot about the environmental benefits of using recycled-content papers, but recycled is not the only sustainable choice. Virgin-content paper is very sustainable and, when you consider the additional greenhouse gas emissions and solid waste that result from recycling, virgin paper may sometimes be a better environmental choice,” he explains.

Domtar's Lewis Fix, senior director for business development of the company's EarthChoice papers, says marketing from some sources and finger-pointing from others sometimes make it difficult for those in the book supply chain to determine what's factual and what's spin. “Instead of saying recycled-content papers are always better or that one certification standard is better than another, we should be looking at all the positive attributes of responsible forest products compared to their alternatives,” Fix says. “If we're not out there talking to people about the advantages of using sustainably managed forest products, our entire market could someday disappear. Everyone needs to take a good, science-based look at the issues.”

To that end, Domtar, the largest integrated manufacturer of uncoated freesheet in North America and second-largest in the world, holds environmental seminars for its supply chain partners at its Montreal headquarters four times each year. “We invite our supply chain partners in to talk about current issues we face as a company and what we're doing to address them,” Fix says.

He adds, “We also look at what their environmental impacts are and offer insights on how we can work together toward continuous improvement in areas like reducing waste and reducing inventory.” Domtar also offers a shorter version of the seminars on site for customers who request it.

AbitibiBowater also is taking the initiative to educate its supply chain partners, most recently through its Environmental Inforum, an educational event for more than 125 book, magazine and catalogue publishers. The company enlisted a wide range of experts from the forest products industry, academia and environmental groups to provide a broad perspective on sustainability. “Sustainability is not the 'issue of the day' for us,” says Charlie Del Vecchio, the company's v-p for book sales. “We've been engaged for a very long time. Take forest certification: we've been involved since the mid 1990s, long before it became well-known in the marketplace. But until the last few years, we didn't communicate what we're doing very well. Today, sustainability issues are part of every presentation we make.”

Del Vecchio explains that part of that educational process is helping people understand that there are many paths to sustainability. “For example, not every forest certification scheme is appropriate for every part of the world,” he says. “The real issue is not who you are certified with but that you are certified, and to operate within those guidelines.”

AbitibiBowater has certified its managed forestlands to the SFI standard in the U.S. and to the Canadian Standards Association standard in Canada, and recently committed to certify more than eight million acres of managed forests in Quebec, Ontario and Nova Scotia to the FSC standard.

Gauging Costs

In addition to the challenges of communicating sustainability issues, just about everyone across the publishing supply chain agrees that cost remains an all-too-frequent barrier to going green. “The roots of our sustainability challenges are mostly economic,” says Malloy Inc. president Bill Upton. “We've had multiple paper price increases over the last year and the differential for recycled-content versus virgin fiber has increased. Publishers need to reduce costs, which, in turn, reduces demand for recycled content papers.”

While cost is front-of-mind across the supply chain, Upton points out that improved environmental performance and economic factors are not always at odds; in many cases they are aligned. “In our own facilities, recycling waste is an economic necessity,” he says, “and we've also seen benefits in other areas, like cost savings from energy improvements.”

And while he sees marketing value in telling Malloy's sustainability story, Upton believes the company's efforts may have even greater value internally as an employee morale builder. “People want to do the right thing, and they want to know that the company they work for is doing the right thing,” he says.

New Leaf Paper CEO Jeff Mendelsohn agrees that it's tough at the margins. “One component of the book industry will always be exclusively bottom-line driven,” he says. “But it's the value-added brands and products that tend to embrace sustainability comprehensively. In organizations where sustainability is valued up and down the supply chain, including ultimately the person who buys the book, sustainability is more likely to be built in as a core value.”

New Leaf considers sustainability a key strategic advantage, according to Mendelsohn. “It's a value proposition we share with our customers and the foundation of our success,” he says. He also suggests that some old “truisms” in the book publishing world need a fresh eye. “Consider paper choices and quality. Not every book needs to last 500 years. That's one way to help the market afford to go greener.” And, he notes, “As an industry, we need to do a better job of reducing the number of unsold books and of reducing the times a book is shipped from one warehouse to another and one retailer to another.”

All businesses at Cascades Paper are built around recycling, and Norm Lecoures, sales and marketing v-p, says that his company's decision to focus on environmentally preferable grades is an economic advantage. “Recycling is our credo, and despite some extreme economic challenges, including disparities in currency and the high cost of fuel and fiber, we continue to do well,” he says. “We're not seeing a decrease in demand in this market.”

With all the competing voices and differing perspectives, what's the best advice for partners in the book publishing supply chain who want to stick a toe in the sustainability waters or expand existing sustainability efforts?

“Don't let trying to be perfect get in the way of getting started,” advises Thomson-Shore's Marsh. “Don't let yourself get overwhelmed with the complexities of certifications, climate change and using post-consumer waste. If you're not using recycled content, start. If you're already using PCW, bump it up.” When some look at the far-reaching industry goals and panic—don't, he says. “Set your own benchmarks and strive for continuous improvement. And don't forget to communicate what you're doing to help build momentum.”

John Edwards of Edwards Brothers suggests that manufacturers start by evaluating current practices. “You may be surprised at how well you're already doing,” he says. “Paper offers a lot of low-hanging fruit for cutting waste, recycling planned waste and so on. Look for areas where you can get quick paybacks. You can be both green and cost effective.”

“Do your homework, understand the issues and know what you're buying,” advises Malloy's Upton. “Too often we're driven by what's in vogue, but real understanding takes time and persistence.” Domtar's Fix concurs: “There's a lot of marketing going on out there, so it's really important to link up one-on-one with your individual suppliers. You can't trust simplistic tools and you can't depend on generalizations to guide you.”

“Press your print partners for specifics,” advises Collinge of Webcom. “We're all way beyond the feel-good stage today; I'm convinced that the best way to make progress is to measure progress. How else would we know that this year among all customers we've almost doubled PCW content and recycled paper usage from last year, and tripled FSC usage? That's progress.”

“Sustainability is a continuous process, not a single target or achievement,” observes a fellow printer, Adi Chinai, joint managing director of King Printing Co. Inc., Lowell, Mass. “Looked at that way, there are endless opportunities for improvement in book manufacturing. For example, we've changed over our lighting systems, buy a portion of our power from wind and solar sources, earned FSC and SFI certification this summer, and operate a water-based four-color inkjet press for short runs.”

He says the 100-employee operation, which serves educational and trade book publishers, began collecting and segregating waste paper and other materials many years ago. It now strives for optimum efficiency by investing in new technologies in the pressroom and bindery. “We know so much more about sustainability,” Chinai says. “As more details become available, even use of recycled-content paper may become questionable if we consider the use and disposal of de-inking chemicals. We have to work with our suppliers and publisher partners on sustainability goals going forward.”

AbitibiBowater's Del Veccio says paper suppliers stand ready to help. ”Engage with your mill suppliers to help ease the path through some of these critical issues,” he says. “We have a lot of science-based information to help book manufacturers and publishers develop informed positions. There's no need to reinvent the wheel when we have the knowledge, experience and insight to help.”

“Most of all, see sustainability as an opportunity and a strategic advantage,” concludes New Leaf's Mendelsohn. “Some things will cost more, and there's no way to slice and dice that, but there are so many ways that sustainability can add value to an enterprise. Whether it's customer satisfaction, brand appreciation, cost efficiency, recruiting or employee satisfaction, sustainability is worth the investment.”