Greenpeace Praises "Potter" Publishers for Using Recycled Paper

Greenpeace International, an environmental awareness group, recently heaped praise upon the Canadian and German publishers of the "Harry Potter" series for using post-consumer-waste (PCW) recycled paper to publish "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince."

Raincoast Books in British Columbia, in cooperation with the Markets Initiative, a coalition project between Greenpeace Canada, Friends of Clayoquot Sound and the Sierra Club, published the "Half-Blood Prince" using 100-percent PCW recycled paper, continuing a trend it set in 2003 when it published "Harry Potter and the Order of Phoenix" on 100-percent PCW paper. German publisher Carlsen used 40-percent PCW recycled paper, while it requisitioned the 60-percent virgin fiber used in producing the print run from Forest Stewardship Council (FSC)-certified sources.

Greenpeace is now urging other publishers of the series to follow suit, including American publisher Scholastic Inc. "It is great to see publishers following the lead set by Raincoast books," says Pamela Wellner, Greenpeace senior campaigner. "Scholastic is one of the largest 'Harry Potter' publishers in the world. If it had printed the book on 100-percent recycled paper, its 10.8 million print run could have saved 217,475 trees."

Kyle Good, vice president of corporate communications and media relations at Scholastic, says the company does use some recycled content in "Harry Potter" books, reflecting a 20-year policy that calls for the company to use some recycled content in all of its publications, but wouldn't disclose how much recycled content was used in the initial run of the "Half-Blood Prince."

"There is some recycled content in the 'Harry Potter' books, and most importantly, we only use paper that is derived from fiber that does not endanger ancient forests," Good says.

Other publishers following Raincoast's and Carlsen's lead include U.K. publisher Bloomsbury Publishing Plc. (30 percent FSC-certified paper); while Israeli publishers Books in the Attic and Yediot Ahronot Books, and Italian publisher Salani have made commitments to publish their print runs using PCW recycled paper in the fall.