Publishing, Retailing and Forest Industry Leaders Meet on Environmental Roles

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Publishing, Retailing and Forest Industry Leaders Meet on Environmental Roles
June 21, 2007
PR Newswire
GRAND RAPIDS, Minn., June 21 /PRNewswire/ -- Over 115 leaders in the
publishing, retail, catalogue and printing businesses and the forest
industry met here this week for a three-day environmental workshop
organized by the Gravure Association of America.
Sustainability of the forest resource was the common theme of
presentations on forest management practices, certification programs and
corporate responsibility. "The room was filled with leading companies in
competition with each other in their fields, but they came together to talk
about common concerns and goals," said GAA President and CEO Bill Martin.
Participants included forestry giants such as UPM and Stora Enso, and
paper users including retailers J.C. Penney, Lands' End, Kohls, Macy's,
Target and Office Depot and publishers Time Inc. and Hearst Enterprises.
The US Forest Service, Forest Products Association of Canada, Nature
Conservancy and American Forest Foundation were also among the presenters.
"If you don't know the environmental (carbon) footprint of the paper
you're buying, you could make a big mistake," said presenter Phil Riebel,
Environmental Director for UPM North America. "You can't rely on
perception. For instance, the type of fiber-raw versus recycled-used to
make your paper may have little to do with the overall environmental
footprint. Using 100% recycled fiber in your catalogue or magazine paper
could actually be less environmentally friendly than using raw fiber from
certified forests when you consider the impact of processing and trucking
the recycled fiber long distances to mills in rural regions." Riebel
pointed out that in Europe, where population concentration has made
recycling more successful, UPM mills use a high portion of recycled fiber
in paper production.
The world's largest magazine publisher, Time Inc., has been tackling
the climate change issue on several fronts. "The life cycle of a magazine
begins in the forest and ends, too often, in public landfill sites where
methane gases contributing to global warming are produced," explained David
Refkin, Director of Sustainable Development for Time Inc. Recent issues of
Time and Sports Illustrated have featured climate change articles focused
on public education and action. On the supplier front, Refkin said they
will work with paper companies on solutions to reduce environmental impact.
"We will be working on paper production, energy, distribution and
recycling. We won't be sitting in our offices, asking our paper suppliers
to do this alone; we'll be working with them."
Hearst Enterprises is another large paper user that has taken a
leadership role in ensuring the sustainability of the forest resource. "The
stakeholders are diverse, including readers, advertisers, paper suppliers,
government, forest landowners, ENGOs (environmental non-governmental
organizations), foundations, the public and others. It's difficult to
consider them all, but we're trying to take a holistic approach to
sustainability," said David Schirmer, VP and General Manager for Hearst
Enterprises. To ensure their paper comes from sustainably managed forests,
Mr. Schirmer pointed to tracking and measuring systems. "We have to balance
the inherent conflicts, respect regional differences, listen to and learn
from stakeholders and, very importantly, embrace continuous learning and
improvement."
David Ford, President and CEO of Metafore, talked about certification
as a tool that assures paper buyers their product is coming from well
managed forests. Certified forests are managed to standards developed by
diverse stakeholders, and credible certification programs are audited by
third-party certifying bodies. "At the same time, we must continue to move
to a much broader look at the impacts of paper making and paper use," he
added. "We need increased transparency and collaboration across the value
chain. Carbon reduction is the priority, but we also need a broad focus on
evaluating the life cycle of paper."
The GAA event was the first in a three-year series of workshops on the
environment. This week's focus was sustainability. Next year, the key topic
will be energy efficiency and climate change. The workshop was hosted by
UPM Blandin Paper.