Dogwood Alliance on IP's FSC Chain of Custody Announcment

The US conservation group Dogwood Alliance, the leader in southern US forest protection, has issued a statement regarding International Paper's announcement regarding FSC Chain of Custody certification.

It begins...

This week, IP announced Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) Chain of Custody certification at a number of its mills in the US claiming “the largest FSC manufacturing platform across the globe.” Contrary to SFI, FSC is the only forest products certification system in existence today that is supported by the broader conservation community, including Dogwood Alliance. It is the only certification system that provides meaningful protection for endangered forests and restrictions on the conversion of natural forests to plantations, large-scale clearcutting and the use of chemicals in plantations.

So, has IP seen the light or is this just another attempt at greenwashing?

Read more....

Support For Bill Needed to Save Paper Recycling

Representative Ann Kirkpatrick, from the 1st District of Arizona, has introduced a bill to close the "black liquor loophole" costing taxpayers billions of dollars. Since early this year paper companies have been raking in billions of dollars by claiming 50 cents/gallon of "black liquor," a partly organic, mostly solid sludge created in the chemical pulping process, and which is burned to help power their mills which use virgin wood fiber.

The goof by Congress picked up on by paper companies has resulted in a and a trade war between the US and Canada (WSJ calls it the "Black Liquor War") and is driving out recycled papermaking jobs. This bill intends to level the playing field and help save recycled paper mills and support their workers.

The release says:

"In addition to costing taxpayers billions, the credit creates an uneven playing field by placing companies that make recycled paper at a competitive disadvantage, because their process does not produce black liquor. Closing the loophole will save recycled paper mills and keep employees in those mills working."

Since 2006, Catalyst's mill in Snowflake, Arizona has been forced to lay off more than one hundred people – about one-quarter of its workforce. The mill is a leading employer in Navajo County, and a shutdown would leave its 324 remaining workers unemployed.

Rep. Kirkpatrick’s legislation would close the tax loophole as soon as the bill is signed into law. Ending the tax break as late as October 1 would save taxpayers an estimated $750 million this year. But with jobs in her district at risk and our budget deficit growing steadily, Rep. Kirkpatrick intends to stop the subsidy as soon as possible.

Rep. Jeff Flake (R-Mesa, Arizona), a noted advocate for fiscal responsibility, is an original co-sponsor for the bill.

“The federal government shouldn’t be picking winners and losers in the economy, and that’s precisely what the black liquor tax credit loophole has done,” said Rep. Flake. “It has put some paper mills at a disadvantage, has complicated our trade obligations with Canada, and has been an enormous waste of federal money. The black liquor tax credit needs to be repealed immediately.”

Read the whole press release here.

Canada: Globe and Mail Gets with Responsible Paper

The Globe and Mail announced Wednesday a new procurement policy for newsprint and other papers, requiring its paper suppliers to be environmentally responsible.

“The Globe’s policy commits to practices that will eliminate the use of papers derived from high conservation value forests, supporting key environmental and climate impacts in the newspaper publishing sector,” said Phillip Crawley, The Globe and Mail’s Publisher and CEO. “We’re proud to be at the forefront in our industry in helping to safeguard and protect the world and Canada’s forests and climate.”

The policy involves The Globe’s commitment to:
• reduce the use of fibre from ancient and endangered forests, such as the Canadian Boreal Forests; Temperate Rainforests of British Columbia, Alaska and Chile; and the Tropical Rainforests of Indonesia and the Amazon;
• progressively maximize recycled content in all of its papers by working with suppliers to establish interval benchmarks for post-consumer recycled content;
• support a preference for virgin wood fibre certified by the Forest Stewardship Council, an independent, non-profit organization established to promote the responsible management of the world’s forests;
• actively encourage suppliers to eliminate the production of persistent organic pollutants or chlorine bleach;
• explore the use of non-wood agricultural residues;
• implement and expand internal business processes that will reduce paper use and encourage maximized paper recycling.

“Now, more than ever, newspapers need to show environmental leadership and innovation,” said Nicole Rycroft from leading environmental publishing advocates, Canopy. “And as the first major North American daily national newspaper to develop an Ancient Forest Friendly policy, The Globe is showing how it's done."

Canada Makes Its Black Liquor Move

Canadian Pulp and Paper producers who invest in "improved energy efficiency and environmental performance" may qualify for funding from a new, $1-billion Pulp and Paper Green Transformation Program, Minister of Natural Resources Lisa Raitt announced today.

The Green Transformation Program intends to provide funding of $0.16 (Canadian) per litre of black liquor, up to a maximum program total of $1 billion. (about 53 US cents/gallon). Black liquor is a liquid by-product of the chemical pulping process used to generate renewable heat and power. Eligible companies participating in the Green Transformation Program will be required to invest these funds over the next three years in capital expenditures that make improvements to energy efficiency or environmental performance on any pulp and paper mill in Canada, including mechanical mills.

“By making a smart investment today, we are laying the groundwork for a greener, more secure future for the pulp and paper sector and the people who work in it,” Natural Resources Minister Lisa Raitt (pictured) said in making the announcement in Ottawa.

Details of what "improvements to energy efficiency or environmental performance" exactly means, but at least this approach is more intentional, transparent, and suggests investment in the industry that will provide long term benefits. This is contrast to the process in the US: backdoor, sneaky, no strings attached, and extremely dubious qualification for a payment for burning black liquor sludge in the United States.

Last week two senior US Senators proposed draft legislation to close the loophole in the United States.

Today's announcement also said the Government of Canada is providing $170 million over two years under Canada's Economic Action Plan to help companies develop new products and processes and capitalize on new market opportunities internationally. Could this be recycled products, agriculture residue papers, and totally chlorine free bleached papers?

Photo Credit: Chris Wattie, Reuters files

US Senate Leaders Join Obama and EPN in Seeking to Close Black Liquor Loophole

Bloomberg reported yesterday that US Senators Max Baucus (Democrat-Montana) and Charles Grassley (Republican-Iowa), have introduced legislation to close the black liquor loophole that is costing taxpayers billions of dollars, decreasing efficiency at US pulp mills, and threatening the demise of the US recycled paper industry.

Though some from the industry are being very misleading about the original intent of this alternative fuels tax credit, Senator Baucus is factually correct, “This credit was not meant to provide a boon to companies for a process they’ve already been doing for several decades,” Baucus said.

Meanwhile, Domtar is playing games with its workers, encouraging them to rally and lobby against he loophole in Canada, and urging them to rally and lobby for it in the United States. Their ideal outcome: A nice big handout from BOTH the US and Canada. The losers: all of us, including the workers, as this temporary financial bailout will not do anything to ensure that long term failures of the industry to be competitive are resolved and that the industry in unprepared for the coming low-carbon economy. Next year, without another miracle and/or corporate welfare from the state, it will be another crisis and more massive layoffs.

Vision from the Boreal Released by Greenpeace Canada

Greenpeace released a new vision for Canada’s Boreal forest on June 10th that will reinvigorate northern forest communities, improve the struggling forest economy and create new jobs while protecting the health and integrity of forests for future generations. Also this week, Time magazine featured the issue of tissue paper sourced from old-growth forests in the Canadian Boreal and Greenpeace's campaign against the current practices of Kimberly-Clark/Kleenex brand.

The document, Greenpeace’s Vision for a New Conservation Based Forest Economy in Canada’s Boreal Forest, is an innovative look at how forest communities, industry and environmental groups can work together to protect forest integrity and help the forest sector, whose troubles have driven northern communities to brink of collapse.

“Canada needs a new vision for its Boreal Forest and needs it now,” said Kim Fry, Greenpeace forest campaigner. “Ontario’s forest communities have been struggling since long before the current economic crisis. Our vision shows how with the right political leadership, forest industry initiative and community support, we can act immediately to save our forests and strengthen our economy.”

The new Greenpeace vision comes after a week of mass cross-country protests from Canada’s forestry workers who demanded provincial and federal action to stop the years of mill closures and job losses. Through the vision the forest industry and workers would work together to ensure efficiency, effectiveness and most importantly, forest sustainability.

Highlights of the vision include:

• Increased community control over surrounding forest areas,
• Strict adherence to Forest Stewardship Certification (FSC) standards to ensure Industrial practices protect the fragile biodiversity of Canada’s Boreal Forest,
• Shift towards value added forestry products as well as economic diversification, and
• More community input and involvement in political policy for the Boreal Forest.

“There is a real opportunity for forestry workers and environmentalists to come together and build good, long-term, sustainable jobs,” said Fry. “With the right vision, political leadership and resources, it is possible to build a sustainable forest economy now so that our children inherit forests that are healthy and intact in the future.”

Update on Gunns Pulp Mill in Tasmania

A dispatch from The Wilderness Society Australia....

Gunns has taken its search for a joint partner for the native forest-destroying pulp mill international.

http://www.wilderness.org.au/stopmillfunding

Australia's largest woodchipping company has said it intends to make an announcement on who will be the joint venture partner for the pulp mill this month.

We now know that Swedish pulp and paper company Södra is considering becoming a partner with Gunns Ltd to build its controversial mill.

Together we helped ensure Gunns' own banker, ANZ, wouldn't fund the pulp mill.

Now we need to take urgent action to make sure Södra doesn't sign off on the destruction of Tasmania's world-class, carbon-rich native forests.

Send a message now to tell Sodra's CEO - Mr Leif Brodén - that Tasmania's world-class, carbon-rich forests are a global treasure.

Any organisation considering being involved in Gunns' pulp mill needs to be aware that they will be supporting a project which is opposed by the majority of Australians, as well as people around the world who want a safe climate and a healthy environment.

We urgently need to get as many messages to Mr Brodén as possible to ensure he understands this is the most strongly opposed project in Australia.

Act now: http://www.wilderness.org.au/stopmillfunding

And a response from Sodra.....

SÖDRA PRE-CONDITIONS MEAN GUNNS’ HAS TO GO BACK TO THE DRAWING BOARD

Swedish pulp and paper company Södra has released a statement on Gunns’ proposed pulp mill. The Wilderness Society welcomed Södra’s commitment to only consider a 100% percent Forestry Stewardship Council (FSC) certified plantation based mill that used totally chlorine free technology (TCF) and continued to call for an alternative site to be full assessed.

“We welcome Södra’s commitment to only consider a 100% percent FSC certified, plantation based mill, that uses totally chlorine free technology (TCF), this is a clear improvement on Gunns’ environmentally destrucitvie proposal,” said Paul Oosting, pulp mill campaigner for The Wilderness Society.

“This will mean no native forests being used for pulping or to burn to generate power as part of the pulp mill,” said Mr. Oosting. “Gunns need to go back to the drawing board if they are to have any relationship with Södra.”

“If Södra are to continue to consider Gunns’ pulp mill project despite it not meeting any of the three criteria they have set then they also must fully assess alternative locations as the Tamar Valley is totally unacceptable,” said Mr Oosting.

Södra’s statement[1], released overnight says:

“If Södra is to engage in any pulp mill project, our high environmental standards have to be met. These standards includes among other things FSC certification and environmentally friendly bleaching technology (TCF preferred). TCF means totally chlorine free. Involvement in any project in the southern hemisphere would require 100 per cent plantation forest to be used.”

“This is a step in the right direction, but more will need to be done if a pulp mill in Tasmania is to be considered by Södra. The livelihoods and health of families in the Tamar Valley and Aboriginal heritage and values on the site make Gunns’ current location totally unacceptable,” concluded Mr Oosting.

Action at Andritz in Vienna on Behalf of Tasmanian Forests

The campaign against Gunns' proposed Tasmania pulp mill moved to Austria on Thursday as Greenpeace and local N.G.O. ECA Watch Austria transformed the headquarters of the Austrian company Andritz into a tree-eating monster, pointing to the significant role Andritz will play in destroying some of the world’s last high conservation value forests.

“International efforts to stop Gunns’ pulp mill being built are ramping up. Greenpeace believes it is crucial to support the campaign to prevent Tasmania’s carbon rich forests from being destroyed,” said Greenpeace Head of Campaigns, Steve Campbell.

“The worlds forests are critical in our fight to combat climate change - any company that gets involved in a project like Gunns’ pulp mill will face huge public opposition around the globe,” said Mr Campbell.

The Austrian Export Credit Agency OeKB - which is currently assessing whether or not to be part of the funding for the pulp mill - was also targeted at the action. In July 2008, The Wilderness Society of Australia, Greenpeace Austria and ECA Watch Austria met with OeKB to inform them of the proposed pulp mills impacts.

“Any organisation considering being involved in Gunns’ pulp mill needs to be aware that they will be supporting a project which is opposed by the majority of Australians, as well as people around the world who want a safe climate and a healthy environment,” said Paul Oosting pulp mill campaigner for The Wilderness Society.

More info

photo: copyright Greenpeace/Prinz Kurt

Time for Michelle Obama to bin that catalog!

A mail order fashion company that recently attracted Michelle Obama has ranked bottom in a study of paper wasters. The First Lady was spotted ordering a Boden catalogue on a recent visit to the UK. However, Boden has just scored zero points and has been labelled 'waster' in a project assessing UK companies for their willingness to address paper efficiency. If Mrs Obama wants to look good today, she needs to send her Boden catalogue to be recycled and ask the company to stop sending out junk mail.

The Shrink project has published a scorecard of the Winners and Wasters in the Paper Chase. It ranks 20 major UK companies on the efficiency of their paper use. Top of the pack is financial company Standard Life, with catalogue retailers Boden and Freemans at the bottom.

The scorecard shows that some financial companies and magazine publishers are taking up the challenge to cut paper use with great enthusiasm. The Shrink project website show-cases some of the ways these companies have found to save paper.

However, catalogue companies perform woefully, seeming to be completely uninterested in reducing their junk mail volumes, even though this would save them money and could improve their image. Boden and Freemans were the least responsive of all the companies approached by the project.

The American First Lady's interest in Boden scored the company a frenzy of media coverage and free advertising as fashion pundits pondered what clothes she might order. This was a public relations boon for the company, which is usually associated in Britain with the right wing of society, selling clothes popular with Conservative politicians. Today Mrs Obama has another reason to question whether dressing from Boden would be sending the right message to her admirers.

Greenpeace Tissue Guide Now iPhone App

Greenpeace announces today the release of an iPhone application for its popular “Recycled Tissue and Toilet Paper Guide.” The tool gives consumers a quick and easy way to choose the greenest toilet paper, tissues, paper towels, and paper napkins sold at the supermarket.

Features of the application include:
• The ability to quickly compare household paper brands while in the grocery store;
• A list of environmentally preferable tissue, toilet paper, paper towel and paper napkin brands.
• Brand specific information including the percentage of recycled content, the percentage of post-consumer content, and the bleaching method.

The guide gives a thumbs-up to Green Forest, Natural Value and Seventh Generation, while recommending that shoppers avoid products like Kleenex, Charmin, Angel Soft, Cottonelle, Brawny, and Scott.

“Customers who download the iPhone or Android version of the Greenpeace Recycled Tissue and Toilet Paper Guide can compare brands available at their local grocery store to find which brands are most environmentally sustainable,"said Greenpeace Forest Campaigner Lindsey Allen.

Washington State Gets Lean and Goes Green with New Paper Law

This week, Washington State continued its leadership in environmentally responsible procurement, reducing government waste and spurring creative green economic recovery efforts with a big announcement. Governor Chris Gregoire (pictured) signed the paper recycling and conservation act, sponsored in the 2009 legislative session by Reps. Lynn Kessler and Kevin Van De Wege, which directs state government to:

• Reduce printing and copy paper use by at least 30 percent, beginning no later than July 1, 2010.
• Purchase 100 percent recycled content paper for printing and copying by Dec. 31, 2009.
• Recycle 100 percent of copy and printing paper in all buildings with 25 employees or more.
• Restrict future leases or purchases of printers and copiers to models that will efficiently use 100 percent recycled content white sheet bond paper.
• Give priority to purchasing from companies that produce paper in facilities powered by a renewable energy source.

"This new law is a win for the state of Washington," said Washington Gov. Chris Gregoire, when signing the bill into law. "It saves money for taxpayers while reducing waste. In addition, it encourages innovation and job growth. With a growing market for recycled paper products, our Washington paper mills will create living-wage jobs to produce the paper products we need in today's world."

The Department of Ecology (Ecology) estimates that the increased paper conservation and recycling requirements will save state taxpayers about $1 million per year. According to the agency's waste reduction experts, the increased cost of purchasing 100 percent recycled paper can be offset by setting printers to double-sided printing and by paper conservation efforts.

The additional high-quality white office paper collected due to this bill will provide material for manufacturers of recycled printing and writing paper in the state and help create jobs.

What are you waiting for? What's in your paper?

UK's & US's Paper Recycling May End Up In Landfill Afterall...

The UK's and US's easy paper recycling solution of shipping much of it to China appears to be coming to an end sparking fears, with some evidence, that much of the paper collected for recycling will end up in landfill after all reports Ethical Corporation: "Export orders to China are down as cash-strapped consumers and businesses in the west buy less. Consequently, Chinese manufacturers are reducing their output or going to the wall as the orders slow. Less packaging is needed. Prices for recycled paper peaked in August 2008 and have since dropped by 50-70%. The days of paper that can be recycled fetching $100 a tonne are gone (and the one time market peak of $200 a distant memory). Prices are down to as low as $28 a tonne for mixed paper, $40 for newspaper and $35 a tonne for corrugated boxes.

This means prices are falling below what it costs to collect and ship the waste paper from the west. At present, only the paper collected near port towns and not requiring the additional cross-country trucking is economical … and then only just. This means targets for recycling set by the industry and government in Europe and the US are becoming harder to meet... Unable to sell it or find local recyclers, there is a risk that many western collectors of waste will end up tipping it into landfills. That is reportedly already happening, sparking anger among environmentally conscious western consumers who diligently sift their waste in the hope they are helping to protect the environment... The US has the same problem. California was a major shipper of waste paper, as well as card, metal and other products to China, but demand, and consequently prices, are significantly down. California’s waste collectors cannot sell their waste and cannot afford to warehouse it, so they are using landfills."

Perhaps what we need are some recycling facilities at home, rather like all the ones we've been shutting down recently perhaps...?

Whole Foods First National Retailer to Use FSC Certified, 100% Recycled Bags

Whole Foods Market announced just before Earth Day this year that it is the first national retailer to offer Forest Stewardship Council (FSC)-certified paper bags at its checkout counters beginning in May.

“Whole Foods Market is thrilled to set the bar even higher in terms of reducing our environmental impact with paper bags that close the loop with 100 percent post-consumer reclaimed material,” said Michael Besancon, Whole Foods Market Senior Global Vice President of Purchasing, Distribution, and Marketing. “The chain-of-custody that our paper bags have attained means these bags can be tracked throughout the supply chain - from post-consumer waste through processing and distribution to the shopper toting home groceries, all the while reducing pressure on virgin forests and protecting biodiversity.”

Previously, Whole Foods Market was the first national retailer to offer 100 percent recycled (60 percent post-industrial/40 percent post-consumer) paper bags at its checkouts. FSC certification on paper bags made from 100 percent post-consumer reclaimed material is another first for the natural and organic foods retailer. Post-consumer reclaimed material typically comes from corrugated boxes that might have held food or other products that have been shipped to various retail outlets. This repurposing is important in a country that is the biggest market for paper products globally, producing 90 million tons of paper and consuming 100 million tons of paper each year, according to the FSC.

Whole Foods Market continues to offer shoppers who bring their own bags a refund of either five or 10 cents at the checkouts, depending on the store, and estimates that reusable bag use has tripled since the Company banned plastic bags from its checkouts last year with approximately 150 million bags being kept out of landfills and our environment. Whole Foods Market sells a variety of reusable bags, ranging from the stylish, affordable “A Better Bag” - 79 and 99 cents, depending on size - with 80 percent of its content coming from recycled plastic bottles and currently featuring a Sheryl Crow-created charcoal sketch of a tree to the $29.99 cotton and burlap FEED 100 bag. A FEED bag purchase helps provide 100 nutritious lunches to hungry Rwandan school children through the United Nations World Food Program’s School Feeding Program.

Additionally, Whole Foods Market partnered this month with Mohawk Fine Papers to be the first national retailer to create all of its nationally produced, in-store Earth Month materials using “third-generation” closed-loop recycled paper. This means that the Company is using marketing material overages from the previous year, which were printed on paper made from 100 percent post-consumer waste, sent to a de-inker, made into pulp and sent back to the same paper mill that produced it, to be recycled anew into this year’s Earth Month materials. All aspects of the third-generation closed-loop process have occurred domestically, eliminating the need to ship pulp out of the country and back again, which is currently the norm.

According to Whole Foods, this process has preserved 192 trees and has prevented more than 9,000 pounds of solid waste and close to 20,000 pounds of greenhouse gases from entering our environment.

A Backwards Bailout for International Paper

Remember when we had all that public debate, national heartburn and those hearings and then finally a careful decision to provide billions of dollars of taxpayer bailout in 2009 to United States paper companies and provide investment dollars to retool them to compete in the 21st century, international economy, and to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and help save civilization from climate change?

Oh wait, that was the auto industry. We never did that for the paper industry at all.

Hold up. They aren't getting a bailout too are they?

Um, actually....yup, a big one.

Most people, including most of Congress, have no idea that when IP released its quarterly earnings yesterday, fully $330 million (USD) of their reported after tax income was a new, direct cash payment compliments of US taxpayers. Smurfit-Stone, who just paid $47 million in bonuses to its executives, and angered its sacrificing workers, is also going to be getting some of the same type of corporate welfare checks this year as well. A couple handfuls of the other large paper companies will too, amounting to at a minimum $3 billion if it is allowed to continue to the end of the year. Anyone got any extra $3 billion laying around to fund this?

How did they do it? Quite craftily, some consultants found an alternative fuels tax credit in a transportation bill which they could technically, but quite genuinely qualify for, and thereby claim 50 cents (USD) a gallon in tax rebates for every gallon of a certain type of fuel they burn and have for many years burned to save money, a waste product of chemical pulping called black liquor. They burn a lot of it. Now Pandora's box has been opened by International Paper and Verso (Bloomberg says Verso could also get $240 million this year in what they term a "boondoggle") as they were the first to claim the check from taxpayers. Now every company that burns black liquor is adding diesel, filing with the IRS as an "alternative fuel mixer" and putting their hand out also for a check.

Well, who's not getting free money for making paper? Unfortunately, its recycled paper mills, and groundwood (such as newsprint) mills, who can't wiggle through the tax loophole being exploited for this bailout. The products produced at recycled mill makes are like the plug-in and hybrid cars of the paper world.

Well, surely that is going towards needed capital investments in modernization and energy efficient technology which will ensure we have progess on the dual challenges of climate change and job creation, right? Nope, actually it wasn't even intended for them according to legislators. It was a modest program to increase biofuel use in automotive vehicles originally, but there was a loophole big enough for a paper mill to fit through it, but only ones that were the right "shape," or type actually. And unfortunately, the "shape" of those mills is the relative equivalent to that of a Hummer in the auto world.

In his press conference on the 100th day in office, President Obama said, in response to a question about the taxpayer assistance to the auto industry,

"We have a circumstance in which a bad recession compounded some great weaknesses already in the auto industry, and it was my obligation, and continues to be my obligation, to make sure that any taxpayer dollars that are in place to support the auto industry are aimed not at short-term fixes that continue these companies as wards of the state, but rather institutes the kind of restructuring that allows them to be strongly competitive in the future."

He could and should have been talking about the paper industry with this statement. The current bailout via this tax loophole simply makes paper companies dependent on the goverment checks while providing no "retooling" or investment to compete. It is without vision, and fails to invest in solutions. It simple raises short term earnings and stock prices and though it may retain some jobs temporarily, what happens at the end of the year, when nothing has changed at the companies. International competition will still be fierce, consumer demand will continue to grow for recycled and other low carbon papers, our U.S. paper manufacturing infrastructure will further deteriorate and shed jobs, and where will our U.S. paper industry be then? Will these companies be able to look their workers and U.S. taxpayers in the eye and say they did their part in acheiving the fundamental changes necessary? Or will they come back and ask to continue being "wards of the state" and seek to receive more taxpayer welfare?

Mr. President, right now, our taxpayer dollars are being taken no strings attached by some paper companies which are unequivocally not meeting this bar, and are in fact backsliding on their fossil fuel usage. The outrage over this issue is growing. It is time for your Administration and Congress to act swiftly to safeguard taxpayer money and close this loophole now. It must cease the unintended consequences of this loophole, including the negative impact this will have on the businesses and their thousands of workers making recycled paper and packaging.

Amazon and Universal News Showcase Recycled Mags

Amazon and Universal News will run ongoing online promotions highlighting magazines that use recycled paper, under a major push by Green America’s Better Paper Project and Next Steps Marketing.

The “Better Paper for People and Planet” promotion will feature a diverse range of magazines that print on post-consumer recycled paper. Both Amazon and Universal News have extended premium placement and unique pages on their sites to highlight and promote these magazines, in conjunction with Earth Day.

Twenty eight magazines that use recycled paper – including, Shape, Mother Jones, ReadyMade, Body + Soul, Nickelodeon, Make, Natural Home and Everyday with Rachel Ray – now are also featured on a special “Recycled Paper Magazines” section on Amazon. In addition, Amazon asks their consumers to make their “commitment to the Earth a year-round affair, and support magazines printed on recycled paper”. Check out Amazon's new page dedicated to recycled paper magazines.

Twenty-six titles are featured on www.universalnewsondemand.com, a site owned by Universal News in New York City, dedicated to selling online single copy sales. Moving forward Universal News will host an ongoing green page to help build awareness and sale of these magazines.

“This step by the biggest online retailer is a crucial component of rewarding those magazines that are taking very real steps to reduce climate change and deforestation by using recycled paper,” says Frank Locantore, Director of the Better Paper Project of Green America.

In addition, to these online retailers Barnes and Noble, Hastings Books and Music and Universal News continue to demonstrate their leadership with in-store promotions that highlight members of the Better Paper Project. These retailers are running special in-store promotions in April, in conjunction with Earth Day to celebrate these magazines.

For a more comprehensive list of magazines using recycled paper and sustainable production processes, visit Green America’s Better Paper Project website.

The Better Paper Project and Next Steps Marketing are working to expand this promotion to other online and retailer properties in order to recognize and promote the achievements of magazines committed to environmental leadership.