Recycled Paper in the Publishing Industry

TIMBERRRR!!! 35 million trees are cut down each year for magazine paper - that's about one tree cut down per second. Less than 5% of all magazine paper contains any recycled paper content at all. Join NCRA this month in writing this ONE letter to the CEO of National Geographic. They use no post-consumer recycled content in their magazine, except 10% in their cover. It's time for them to help set a better example. Click here for a model letter for your personal editing in Word or PDF format.

Platform

Magazine publishers should:

1. Begin switching their publications to 30-50% post-consumer recycled paper
2. End any association with the conversion of natural forests to plantations
3. End the use of endangered and old-growth forests for their paper fiber
4. Request and share a fiber audit from their paper suppliers

Background Information

The magazine industry publishes 18,000 different titles each year, producing a total of about 12 billion magazines.

• Less than 5% of all magazine paper contains and recycled paper content at all.
• 35 million trees are cut down each year for magazine paper - that's about one tree cut down per second.
• 35 million trees would cover an area equivalent to the size of Rocky Mountain National Park in Colorado.
• National Geographic publishes 5 magazines plus one catalog. Their most famous publication is National Geographic Magazine. The others are National Geographic Kids, National Geographic Explorer (for teachers and their classes, not on the newsstand), National Geographic Traveler, and Adventure.
• The production of National Geographic's magazines:
  • Requires over 425,000 trees to be cut annually
  • Consumes the same annual energy as 6,500 households
  • Produces the same amount of greenhouse gases as driving 11,000 cars for one year
  • Creates the same amount of wastewater as what is used annually in 4,000 households