The boy with the lightning bolt on his forehead is back. And this time, Harry's not only saving Muggles and Hogwarts from the evil powers of Voldemort, he's also working a little magic for the world's ancient forests.
On July 16th the English language edition of JK Rowling's latest book "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince" hit the bookstores, and Greenpeace is commending the Canadian, German and UK publishers for printing the book on environmentally friendly paper. Print runs for Harry Potter are so huge that this kind of effort really does make a difference.
In 2003 Canadian publisher Raincoast Books set a positive trend for Harry Potter publishers by printing 'Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix' on a 100 per cent post consumer recycled paper. Since then, We've been encouraging other Harry Potter publishers to print their book on ancient forest friendly paper as part of the Book Campaign. The campaign encourages publishers to stop sourcing paper from ancient forests and to start developing ancient forest friendly solutions.
With the publication of Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince, Raincoast is again printing the Canadian edition on a 100 per cent post consumer recycled paper, a trend which is now being echoed by other publishers across the globe.
The UK edition, published by Bloomsbury, is printed on a 30 per cent Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certified paper - a positive step by the publishing house. The FSC is the only way you can ensure that virgin fibre is coming from environmentally and socially responsible sources.
The German edition published by Carlsen will be printed on 40 per cent post-consumer recycled paper with the rest of the virgin fibre coming from FSC-certified sources.
Belinda Fletcher, Forest campaigner said, "It is great to see that Harry Potter publishers globally are starting to follow the lead set by the Canadians who use 100 per cent post consumer waste paper for Harry Potter and we welcome the progress Bloomsbury has made by printing the book on a 30 per cent Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certified paper.
She continued, "We are encouraging all publishers to maximise recycled content in their books and ensure any virgin fibre is from FSC certified sources."
