Environmentalists will be delighted by the developments in publishing this month, not just because of the opportunity to buy myriad new books on calculating carbon emissions and understanding climate change, but because Hachette, who control 17% of the book market and own Hodder Headline, Orion, Little Brown and Octopus, have committed to a policy of environmental paper sourcing.
Hachette, who had been described by Greenpeace forest campaigner, Belinda Fletcher, as “the Grinch when it comes to using ancient forest friendly paper” have enrolled in a scheme spearheaded by children’s publisher Egmont to allow publishers to track the source of the pulp which constitutes their paper. Preps (Publishers’ database for Responsible Environmental Paper Sourcing), which has also been joined by HarperCollins, Penguin, Usborne and Walker, will record and rate every paper used by members, helping them to improve their purchasing policies.
