Harry Potter's UK publisher, Bloomsbury, has printed the paperback of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix on a part recycled paper (1), a first step by a major publisher towards 'ancient forest friendly' book paper in the UK.
JK Rowling is one of 16 UK authors who have pledged to print their future books on 'ancient forest friendly' paper as part of the Greenpeace Book Campaign, launched last year.
The campaign aims to encourage UK book publishers, like Bloomsbury, to stop sourcing paper from ancient forest regions and to start developing 'ancient forest friendly' solutions such as the use of recycled paper and/or virgin fibre certified to the standards of the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC). Other authors supporting the Greenpeace Book Campaign include Helen Fielding, Philip Pullman, Joanna Trollope and Ian Rankin.
Greenpeace Campaigner Belinda Fletcher said, "Including 10% recycled content in the Harry Potter paperback is a positive first step by Bloomsbury towards 'ancient forest friendly' book paper, but there is still some way to go."
Bloomsbury state that the rest of their paper comes from 'wood grown in well-managed forests'. This is despite the fact that they, like other UK publishers, continue to source virgin pulp from countries like Finland, where logging of ancient forests continues and where significant questions remain regarding forest management under industry dominated certification schemes.
Fletcher continued, "Greenpeace wants to see books in the marketplace with much more recycled content and with any virgin fibre used in the paper coming from well managed forests, certified to the standards of the Forest Stewardship Council."
Bloomsbury becomes JK Rowling's third publisher globally to include recycled and/or FSC fibre content in her books. The Canadian hardback edition co-published by Raincoast Books and Bloomsbury last year was printed on a 100% post consumer, processed chlorine free paper. By printing the Canadian edition of the book on this paper, significant ecological savings were achieved, including:
- 39,320 trees
- 64,435,801 litres of water (water to fill 42 Olympic sized swimming pools)
- 854,988 kgs of solid waste
- Electricity to power the average home for 262 years
- Greenhouse gases equivalent to driving a car 5.3 million kilometres
The Italian hardback edition of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, published by Salani, was printed on paper that included 30% Forest Stewardship Council certified virgin fibre.
To date, UK publishers are far behind their European counterparts in making progress on environmentally and socially responsible paper procurement. In the last few months, 14 Dutch publishers, representing 75% of the fiction market, have committed to phasing out pulp from the world's last ancient forest areas from their books. Moreover, in Italy a group of authors have been the first to publish their new book 'Guerra agli Umani' on a 100% recycled paper as a result of the book campaign. The book was published on Cyclus Offset, a paper produced by the Danish manufacturer Dalum.
Further information
(1) 'Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix' was printed on paper made from 10% post consumer waste recycled paper. The adult version of the book was printed on 20% post consumer waste recycled paper.
For more information on the Greenpeace Book Campaign contact the Greenpeace press office on 020 7865 8255. You can also visit our ancient forests campaign website.
