PrintingNews.com

According to the Green Press Initiative (GPI), 20 million trees per year have been used to produce the books sold in the United States during the past three years. The organization, based in Ann Arbor, Mich., and funded largely through grants, is dedicated to promoting the use of environmental standards in book publishing especially, and has enlisted the aid of authors, publishers, and book manufacturers/printers toward this end.

GPI has established a set of guidelines for publishers who want to go green, including partnering with printers who are equally dedicated to environmentalism, and who perhaps even offer price parity between environmentally friendly and standard paper stocks. While on its face, this suggestion appears to be a little unfair to printers, urging them to absorb any extra costs, it may not be too far beyond the realm of possibility. GPI's Web site, www.greenpressinitiative.org, lists a number of printers who already support the organization, as well as dozens of book papers with varying levels of post-consumer waste that have become readily available during the past three to four years.

New Leaf Paper, San Francisco
(www.newleafpaper.com), was an early promoter of environmentally friendly papers. Primarily a nationwide distributor, the firm also offers a wide range of papers under its own brand.

"We got involved in book papers a few years back," said Michael Peek, vice president of sales, Northeast region. "One of the things we saw was that no one was making book papers with high post-consumer recycled content, and why not, given the size and scope of the publishing industry? One of our first major successes was when the Canadian publisher of the Harry Potter books decided to print that on 100-percent post-consumer, and we were fortunate enough to land the business. That was the first major step for us in the world of book publishing."

New Leaf now offers a broad range of uncoated book stocks, including EcoBook 100, New Leaf Opaque 100, and EcoOffset 100, all made with 100-percent post-consumer waste and totally chlorine free. Other uncoated papers offer combinations of recycled and postconsumer content. Five different coated stocks, in gloss and matte for covers and jackets, as well as for inside pages, are also available.

New Leaf Paper's primary mission is to move the industry toward greater environmental responsibility, and it owns no paper mills of its own. "We look for mills that can do the right thing from the environmental perspective, regarding waste, clean chemistry, no chlorine bleach, FSC [Forest Stewardship Certification], and so forth," Mr. Peek said. "We establish a dialogue with these mills to develop and introduce New Leaf products into the marketplace. Sometimes the mills already have their own environmentally responsible brands, but it is not as simple as us saying, ?Here is what we want, make it.'"

From its start on the West Coast, New Leaf now has regional warehouses across the country, though not all grades are inventoried at all facilities.

"For large volumes, we have the make-and-ship program. The paper is made at the mill and shipped in truckload quantities. We have long-term arrangements with mills, and a lot of times, they are making paper for us exclusively," Mr. Peek noted. "We are also working with a growing number of stocking printers, where we are putting inventory on their floor. For publishers, supplying just enough stock to print a single title can be difficult. It is easier when a publisher commits to printing an entire series or their whole list."