Catalog Printing – Heading toward greener policies

Catalog Printing

 

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Although seventy-five percent of the 80 million U.S. online households have purchased products over the Internet, with the majority of shoppers saying they found online shopping easier, catalog distributors realize that it’s their catalog that pushes the buyer to the online transaction.

When the popularity of internet shopping began to rise, everyone thought the catalog was on its way out.  That obviously hasn’t happen, and there’s no sign that catalog production will decrease anytime soon.

The electronic age has not reduced paper usage.  Catalogers printed 19.5 billion catalogs last year, which is enough for every man, woman, and child to receive 71 each year. What’s worst is that most of these catalogs contain no recycled content and just end up in the trash unused.

What are the consequences of catalog printing services?

What’s at stake here is the Boreal Forest, an amazing wilderness that stretches from Alaska clear across Canada to the Atlantic Ocean. It is one of the largest intact ecosystems in the world, but very little of it is protected:

Many leading catalogers use virgin paper for the majority of their paper needs.

CatalogPrinting

The evolution of the brochure and catalog printing industry

The catalog industry goes back 100 years when Sears & Roebuck took advantage of America’s westward expansion and the penny-per-pound postage rate (mail order publications were considered aids in the dissemination of knowledge). Rural Free Delivery in 1896 made it even cheaper for Sears to distribute its color-filled pages that advertised anything from watches to everything imaginable for building a house.

1960s – The segmentation and zip codes laid the groundwork for mass distribution.

1970s – The catalog industry picked up lots of momentum.

1993-2003 – Growth in catalog distribution accelerated by a whopping 50 percent.

2003-2004 – Catalog production increased by 1 billion from the previous year.

Note: Catalog response rate is estimated at only 2.52%.

 

Making Greener Paper Policies

Nonprofit environmental groups (Dogwood Alliance, Forest Ethics, Greenpeace, Environmental Defense, Natural Resource Defense Council, Natural Forest, Rainforest Action Network) began pushing companies at the turn of the millennium to begin using 10% post-consumer recycled content – not an easy task.

Brochure and Catalog Printing

To determine which catalog printing service companies were greener than others (and to determined which companies qualified for an extensive campaign against their paper policies), surveys were sent out to seventy-four different catalogers in 2002. J.C. Penney, Bloomingdale's by Mail, Spiegel, Eddie Bauer, Lands' End, L.L. Bean, Victoria's Secret, Williams-Sonoma, Pottery Barn, and J. Crew were among those surveyed. The findings were startling. Only three were using recycled paper in the body of their catalogs:

Norm Thompson partnered with Environmental Defense to improve its recycled paper usage. Its new policy (which requires a minimum of 10-percent post-consumer recycled paper for the body of its catalogs and up to 60-percent post-consumer content for its covers), achieves the following environmental improvements annually:

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Their partnership proved that recycled paper performs as well as virgin paper and that it is:

*      Competitively priced

*      Widely available

The company is also:

·          Minimizing unwanted, misdirected, or undeliverable catalogs.

·          Eliminating the outer envelope from catalogs sent by customer request.

·          Introducing a customer option to modify the frequency of catalog delivery.

·          Implementing an annual environmental performance review of paper suppliers.[1]

For the full report: http://www.environmentaldefense.org/documents/2174_ANewNormInCatalogs.pdf.

Norm Thompson has also made its packaging practices greener: http://www.deq.state.or.us/lq/pubs/docs/sw/packaging/csnormthompson.pdf.

Survey results

Some companies continued to perpetuate the same old myths about recycled paper:  that it is not cost‑effective, that is does not have the same quality as virgin paper, and that it is not widely available – none of which are true.[2]  Some companies maintained the position that consumers don’t care whether the paper they buy is recycled or virgin – a position that was soon to become radically threatened.

ForestEthics targeted the following six companies (who collectively produce over 600 million catalogs a year in the United States) as part of its catalog campaign:

Williams-Sonoma and Dell (though the latter was not part of the target) committed to catalog paper procurement practices[3] with little fuss; however, lots of companies were under the impression that consumers didn’t care whether recycled or virgin paper was used and needed a bit more nudging toward a greener catalog. One such company was Victoria’s Secret.

Two years of investigative research revealed a direct link between Victoria’s Secret catalogs and the destruction of the Boreal:

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Nonprofit Forest Ethics held a two-year campaign – dubbed Victoria’s Dirty Little Secret [4]– against the lingerie company. The company distributes 395 million catalogs annually and often sends out a catalog every two weeks.

The environmental campaign against Victoria’s Secret left no stone unturned. It included:

After two years of pressure, Victoria’s Secret announced a landmark environmental policy that met the requirements of Forest Ethics.

What can you do?

Catalog Printer

Office Supplies

Environmental groups also targeted the office supply industry, pushing them toward FSC-approved environmental policies. FSC-certified paper products were not around five years ago, but they are a viable option for mass paper sellers today – and consumers are becoming more aware of this.  FSC-certified paper products give customers the same type of assurance food shoppers get with the ‘certified organic’ label.

CatalogPrinters

Staples – After two years of pressure from Forest Ethics, the office supply store agreed to move toward a minimum of 30‑percent post-consumer content across their paper products. It agreed to phase out paper products that come from endangered forests.  The two-year campaign was extensive and included:

·         Over 600 protests at Staples stores

·         Wall Street Journal coverage

·         National public radio

·         Jim Lehrer News Hour

·         Thousands of letters, postcards, and emails

Office Depot made a strong commitment to forest protection and the promotion of ecologically friendly products. Their policy is aimed at preserving intact forests and avoiding products with wood from illegal logging.[5] They use 35% post-consumer recycled paper.

Fedex Kinkos has also made a strong commitment to forest protection and the promotion of ecologically friendly products.  

OfficeMax – the environmental policy that Office Max delivered in February 2007 is substandard. Its environmental policy does not give preference to FSC-approved paper nor does it protect endangered forests.

What can you do?

Brochure and Catalog Printing Junk Mail

While the catalog and office supply industries have a tremendous impact on the environment, so does junk mail (which accounts for 15 percent of paper usage). Junk mail has an estimated response rate of less than 2% and according to nonprofit Native Forest, the environmental and economical impacts are huge:

The electronic age shows no sign of improving junk mail statistics. According to the U. S. Postal Service, direct postal mail sent by U. S. companies has increased significantly:

According to Consumer Research Institute, Americans will spend 8 months opening bulk mail throughout their life time.

Always reuse and recycle junk mail.

For more statistics and to learn how you can reduce and even eliminate junk mail, see Native Forest’s free online guide to stopping junk mail or New American Dream's junkmail facts.