You can't fool your readers

Folio: The Magazine for Magazine Management, Sept 1, 1990 by Barbara Love

You can't fool your readers Protecting the environment is a hot issue today. Editors have diligently been providing editorial about environmental problems in their markets. This is great, but we can't be myopic. Readers concerned about the environment are also watching us. I'm seeing more and more letters to the editor like this one sent to Financial World:

How timely that your issue discusses "Business and the Environment." For this very reason, I am reconsidering my decision to subscribe. I cannot support any magazine that mails issues wrapped in plastic. One of the largest waste disposal problems in this country is the disposal of plastics. It has been estimated that 28 to 32 percent of landfills consist of plastic. Please reconsider your practice or I will be forced to reconsider mine.

I believe that other publishers using polybags are receiving such letters-and that they will be receiving more. And they should. The magazine publishing industry, which happens to have a wonderful opportunity to criticize everyone else, is just as vulnerable in this. We are a paper-eating, tree-cutting, plastic-using, toxic chemical-using business. Let's not fool ourselves. As Pogo says, "We have met the enemy, and he is us."

So what options do we have?

Look at the wrapping problem. A few publishers tried to use biodegradable plastic. They paid more for the wrapping, and it looked cloudy, to boot. Then it was widely publicized that the so-called biodegradable plastics currently available are not biodegradable. Polybags have become very popular because they do a nice job of protecting magazines and allow for inserts, but some titles, like The New Yorker, are returning to kraft wrapping, just as many supermarkets have returned to putting groceries in paper bags.

And what can we do about the ink we use? Not much now. Most inks used for magazines are toxic because they are petroleum based. The industry is working on soybean-based oil inks. But, although they may be acceptable for sheetfed presses, they are not for web offset, which most publishers use. There's a problem with "tack. " Ink manufacturers are working on this.

Okay, so maybe we can do something about the coating on our covers. UV coating, which is very popular, is extremely toxic. Not only does it contain carcinogens, but it doesn't break down in landfills. There is a water-based coating, called aqueous," but it doesn't provide the shine UV does and costs more, so many won't use it.

Then there's paper. There is some coated recycled paper around, but it's still not available in the lower basis weights. A few magazines use uncoated recycled paper-mostly magazines about the environment. But recycled paper generally costs the publisher more-maybe 10 percent more-and isn't of the same quality.

Notice I said "coated recycled" above and not "recycled coated." It is still difficult and expensive to recycle coated paper. There are problems with the clay in the coating, the ink, the glue in perfect bound books and the staples in those that are saddle stitched.

Several people have made the point that coated paper doesn't have to have the same life the second time around. It can come back lower on the pyramid of quality requirements. I have heard that coated paper can be reused for telephone poles, fences and even firecracker casings. Maybe the best paper-virgin paper-does need to be reserved for magazine publishers (somebody has to use it); it can then be recycled for use in these other products. I don't think we need to feel guilty because it can't be reused as magazine paper. What can we do?

Public awareness of environmental issues is mounting, and, in my opinion, we are not currently in a very good position to respond to reader concerns.

There are two things we can do, however.

We can pressure suppliers to come up with environmentally acceptable products and processes. I know a lot of suppliers are already working on this. Paper manufacturers, for example, are trying to regulate themselves in order to stave off legislation.

And we can address the issue in our own offices. A number of companies, including Time Inc. Magazine Co., Times Mirror Magazines, Gralla Publications and, I'm happy to say, The Hanson Publishing Group, have declared that environmental protection begins at home. They are internally recycling office paper and cans; buying recycled copier, memo and writing paper; and even car-pooling.

Not everyone is in a position to take on the big environmental challenges the magazine publishing industry faces, but each of us can do something.

Please tell me about the environmentally conscious things you're doing with your magazine or at your company so they can be shared with FOLIO:'S readers.