News - Magazines/Recycled Paper - One Publication's Switch to Recycled Paper Highlighted in New Video

“Poets & Writers: Green Printing and Beyond” goes green.

Courtesy: emergingwriter.blogspot.com

(NEW YORK CITY) - Poets & Writers Magazine (http://www.pw.org/magazine), an award-winning bimonthly published by the nonprofit organization Poets & Writers, Inc., seeks to educate and inspire creative writers, while preserving forests for generations to come. The new short video “Poets & Writers: Green Printing and Beyond” explores how the magazine decided to use recycled paper, and how this decision influenced a comprehensive greening strategy for its organization.

In the 3-minute video, Suzanne Pettypiece, Managing Editor of Poets & Writers Magazine, shares how her magazine transitioned to a body stock that contains a minimum of 90% recycled content with 30% postconsumer content and a 10% postconsumer recycled cover stock that is FSC certified, choices that set it apart from other periodicals, over 97% of which still use virgin paper.

According to the Environmental Paper Network’s Paper Calculator (http://www.papercalculator.org), if all magazines published in the United States used the type of paper Poets & Writers Magazine now uses, the industry would save almost 32 million trees every year, reduce production of wastewater by 14.5 billion gallons per year, and cut production of CO2 by 3.5 billion pounds per year. That is equivalent to removing more than 325,000 cars from the road. Clearly, using recycled paper in magazines generates huge environmental savings.

Frank Locantore, the Green America’s Better Paper Project (http://www.betterpaper.org) Director said, “Poets & Writers Magazine is an excellent example of how publishers can use creative solutions to obtain high-quality recycled papers at a reasonable cost.”

In order to grow a sustainable magazine industry, Pettypiece suggests in the video that magazine associations, such as the Association of Magazine Media, provide more support and guidance for publishers that want to go green. Pettypiece also proposes a co-op to reduce the cost of buying paper. (Learn more about the new Better Paper Buying Club here: http://betterpaper.ning.com/page/better-paper-buying-club).

Before switching to environmentally friendly paper in 2008, Pettypiece was concerned, like many publishers, about quality. However, she notes that, since switching, “We haven’t had any complaints from advertisers, photographers, or readers. It’s a beautiful product.”

For Poets & Writers Magazine, the move to recycled paper set in motion a larger commitment to sustainable business practices. Now staff members pitch in to do small things that have a larger impact, from creating a better recycling system to re-using office supplies and cutting down on waste.

“Poets & Writers: Green Printing and Beyond” is a terrific resource for industry professionals to learn how publications—even those published by a nonprofit, such as Poets & Writers Magazine—can use recycled paper while achieving economic and environmental sustainability.

The video can be found at http://betterpaper.ning.com/page/poets-writers-video or http://www.youtube.com/user/poetsandwriters.

ABOUT POETS & WRITERS:
Founded in 1970, Poets & Writers, Inc. is the nation’s largest nonprofit organization serving creative writers. Its mission is to foster the professional development of poets and writers, to promote communication throughout the literary community, and to help create an environment in which literature can be appreciated by the widest possible public. Its flagship publication, Poets & Writers Magazine, is a bimonthly that publishes essays on the literary life, profiles of contemporary authors, and the most comprehensive listing of literary grants and awards, deadlines, and prize winners available in print. Each issue reaches more than 100,000 writers. Learn more at http://www.pw.org.

ABOUT GREEN AMERICA’S BETTER PAPER PROJECT:
Green America is the nation’s leading green economy organization. Founded in 1982, Green America (formerly Co-op America) provides the economic strategies, organizing power and practical tools for businesses and individuals to solve today's social and environmental problems. Green America’s Better Paper Project is creating a greener magazine industry in the US and has assisted over 150 publishers in selecting environmentally responsible papers for their magazines. For more information, visit http://www.greenamerica.org and http://www.betterpaper.org.