Metro Montreal first to guarantee all FSC certified newsprint

Today, Metro Montreal, the most-read newspaper on the island of Montreal, begins printing exclusively on Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certified paper as part of a new environmental policy launched in collaboration with North American environmental organization, Canopy. The groundbreaking policy developed with Canopy establishes Metro Montreal as an environmental leader among newspapers, and the first in North America to guarantee all of its newsprint is FSC certified, the only forest certification system recognized by environmental organizations worldwide.

“We are proud to be the first in North America to guarantee that we are printed every day on FSC certified newspaper and we hope that other publishers will follow our lead,” says Daniel Barbeau, publisher of Metro Montreal. “We are also reducing the height of the Metro by almost 4cm to cut our paper consumption. So, today readers will see a redesigned paper that delivers the same news and aesthetic appearance they’re used to, but without having to print too many pages.“


The new environmental policy also commits Metro Montreal to excluding paper from intact and endangered forests, reducing its carbon footprint, and supporting forest conservation initiatives such as the Canadian Boreal Forest Agreement.


“This is no greenwash; Metro Montreal is a newspaper walking the talk,” says Tara Sawatsky, Corporate Campaigner at Canopy. “By committing to purchase wood fibre more responsibly businesses show they understand the environmental importance and ecological value of our forests and, more importantly, work to protect them."

Canopy is a Steering Committee member of the Environmental Paper Network, which publishes the Paper Planet.

Read the Metro Montreal environmental policy.

UPDATE: RISI Removes Article(s) on Paper Scorecards for a 2nd Time

The Paper Planet wishes to apologize that the link that was published yesterday to an updated, corrected, and short version of the two pieces by contributor Phil Riebel, titled, "Five Ways to Check Your Paper," is no longer active.  The new article was removed again overnight from RISI's website, for reasons which are not yet clear.  The long version of the article, "Review of Paper Scorecards and Product Declarations," was removed last week because of factually incorrect statements about the life cycle approach used by the Paper Calculator, and has never been updated or reposted.  


It is unfortunate that these articles were published, distributed, and read with inaccurate information about the life cycle approach of the Paper Calculator.  EPN provides transparency and clear guidance regarding the life cycle model behind the Paper Calculator through documentation available on the Paper Calculator website.  

EPN is dedicated to maintaining the Paper Calculator as the most trusted independent tool available to paper purchasers to measure and report the environmental benefits of better paper choices.  The Paper Calculator was built on the original life-cycle research of the Paper Task Force, which included Environmental Defense Fund, Johnson and Johnson, Time, Inc., McDonald's, Duke University, and others.  It receives ongoing guidance and life cycle data updates from environmental consulting firm, Franklin Associates, a division of ERG. 

Thank you again for using the Paper Calculator to help you or your organization make environmentally responsible paper choices.

RISI Corrects Inaccuracies About The Paper Calculator

Last week, RISI.com published an article evaluating five paper scorecards.  Unfortunately, the article contained factually incorrect information about the Paper Calculator and its life cycle model. The Environmental Paper Network (EPN) brought this to the attention of the editors at RISI who promptly removed the article from their website temporarily.

We would like to share with you that RISI has republished the piece with corrected information [UPDATE 6/22: This article has now been removed as well as of this morning and the link goes to a blank page.]

EPN is dedicated to maintaining the Paper Calculator as the most trusted independent tool available to paper purchasers to measure and report the environmental benefits of better paper choices.  The Paper Calculator was built on the original life-cycle research of the Paper Task Force, which included Environmental Defense Fund, Johnson and Johnson, Time, Inc., McDonald's, Duke University, and others.  It receives ongoing guidance and life cycle data updates from environmental consulting firm, Franklin Associates, a division of ERG.  EPN provides transparency and clear guidance regarding the life cycle model behind the Paper Calculator through documentation available on the Paper Calculator website. 

Thank you for using the Paper Calculator. 

New Leaf and Office Depot Talk Recycled Paper and Radical Transparency

At the Greenbiz.com, State of Green Business Forum, 2011, New Leaf Paper and Office Depot presented their "One Great Idea" in which they used cutting-edge web technology to tell the story of 100% recycled copy paper and the surprising make-up of its carbon footprint. Their approach exemplifies a new direction in customer engagement around sustainability and provides a visually powerful representation of complex environmental data.


As Jeff Mendelsohn of New Leaf Paper says, "There is a qualitative difference between being transparent about true carbon emissions with a focus on emission reduction, and simply making claims of carbon neutrality." 


With dubious claims proliferating rapidly in an unregulated environment, his point is very timely for the paper industry.  Watch the short video below of their great presentation and check out their cool project using SourceMap technology in partnership with MIT.