Three years ago Egmont UK launched a tool, known as the Egmont Grading System©, which helps Egmont to eliminate papers that contained material of a questionable origin, and print a small, but growing number of titles on papers that are recycled or have been certified by the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC).
Buoyed by the success, Egmont UK approached a number of publishers to share the novel approach and to explore the potential for working together. By September 2006 PREPS (Publishers database for Responsible Environmental Paper Sourcing) was formed, its members jointly accounting for 35% of the UK publishing market.
The primary purpose of PREPS is simply to provide members with objective information on their selected papers. Members are then free to use this information at their own discretion.
Forests Campaigner Belinda Fletcher from Greenpeace says: “PREPs is certainly a positive step and good news for ancient forests. The database should really help publishers to identify and weed out the most controversial sources from their supply chain. Ultimately, we hope its members will also commit to only using recycled and FSC certified papers.”
The thinking behind the Egmont Paper Grading System
