Book Publishing Industry

Some facts about the book publishing industry:

Number of new titles published annually in the U.S.: 172,000 (2005 figures)
Number of books sold annually in the U.S.: 3.079 billion (2005 figures)
55 percent of fiction is bought by women, 45 percent by men
Annual revenues of U.S. book publishers: $26.8 billion (2004 figures)
Annual revenues of European book publishers: Euro 22.3 billion (2004 figures)
Number of book publishers in the U.S.: more than 80,000
Number of U.S. book publishers who signed on to a treatise to improve their ecological footprint: about 140.

This means that only 0.18% (!) of all U.S. publishers ARE committed at the moment to the goals defined in the treatise: increasing the use of recycled paper to a 30 percent average by 2011, stopping the usage of fiber originating from endangered forests, using more fiber coming from certified forests, etc.

The biggest publisher to go green:
Random House, a leading U.S. publisher announced in 2006 that it will raise the proportion of recycled paper it uses to at least 30% by 2010 from under 3% at the time of the announcement.

The number of trees that are cut down annually to produce the books sold in the U.S.:
about 20 million (according to data from the past 3 years)

Percentage of recycled paper currently used by U.S. book publishers in the production of books: about 5%

Usage of recycled paper :
We want to see every publisher using recycled paper and want to encourage publishers to aim higher and adopt even bolder goals than those in the above-mentioned treatise. Today, recycled paper has become more affordable – according to Green Press Initiative (the organization behind the treatise), 24 new types of book paper with strong environmental attributes have come to market in the last couple of years. According to industry experts, the price of recycled paper is only slightly higher than that of regular paper. In some cases there’s even no difference at all – in a 2005 survey conducted by Book Business Magazine, 17% of publishers using at least 30% post-consumer recycled fiber were able to achieve cost parity.

It also seems that there is more willingness by consumers to pay more to support a move to recycled paper. A 2005 study of American book and magazine readers found that almost 80% of consumers are willing to pay more for books printed on recycled paper (42% are willing to pay $1 more per book according to the survey).
Greater use of recycled paper will also decrease other environmental impacts of the book industry. Making paper from recycled paper is generally a cleaner and more efficient process than making paper from virgin fiber, as much of the work of extracting and bleaching the fibers has already been done. The results are less air and water pollution and lower water and energy consumption (20%-30% less energy). More information on the advantages of using recycled paper can be found in this paper prepared by the Environmental Defense and the Alliance for Environmental Innovation.

Further development of sustainable non-tree materials for the production of books
We believe in the importance of conducting more research to develop economically viable paper content made from cellulose-rich agricultural residue (such as cereal straw, sugarcane bagasse, corn stover, etc.), or from crops that are ideally suited for paper production, like hemp or kenaf.

Use of paper that comes from certified forests
We think that recycled paper should be used as much as possible in the production of books. If trees are used to make raw materials for paper, they should only be from forests certified by forest management systems, such as the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certification.

FSC is an independent non-profit organization that sets standards worldwide for responsible forest management. These standards are aimed to promote environmentally appropriate, socially beneficial, and economically viable management of the world's forests. For example, the standards include requirements to manage forests in a way that conserves biological diversity and its associated values, water resources, soils, and unique and fragile ecosystems and landscapes, in order to maintain the ecological functions and the integrity of the forest.

Using FSC certified paper ensures that the paper does not originate from trees in endangered forests, that the forests it is derived from were not converted to single-species tree farms after harvest, and that the biodiversity and the resilience of ecosystems is maintained.

Sources:

1. Bowker, http://www.bowker.com
2. Green Press Initiative, http://greenpressinitiative.org
3. Random House
4. Dan’s Poynter’s ParaPublishing.com,
5. Federation of European Publishers
6. U.S. Census
7. Bureau Publishers Weekly
   
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