Business and Society 2.0

The paper industry is Europe’s largest recycler and is one of the greatest environmental success stories of recent years. Today, the average recycling rate across European countries is over 62%, representing more than 50 million tonnes of used paper collected each year.Paper fibres can be recycled up to six times, and recycling is certainly the best way to keep waste paper out of landfill. So paper has excellent credentials as a renewable, sustainable and recyclable product, and managed paper production has a positive environmental impact. At the same time, a responsible use of paper and attitude to recycling will have an even greater environmental benefit. "When people use more paper, suppliers plant more trees. If we want bigger commercial forests, then we should use more paper not less. Our policies should directly protect important wildlife habitats, not try to reduce our demand for paper."(1) (1) Edward L. Glaeser, Professor of Economics at Harvard University © Copyright

Another prejudice is that paper destroys forests. In fact the main raw material of paper is cellulose fibre which generally comes from trees, but this doesn’t automatically equate to the destruction of forests. Papermaking and other industries that depend on trees need thriving forests. It’s in their interest. "Almost half of the timber harvested from the world’s forests is used to make paper products, so the paper industry has a huge opportunity to make sure that those forests are responsibly managed and will be here for generations to come" (1) . It is estimated that there are 25% more trees in the developed world today than there were in 1901, and in Europe alone, forests are increasing annually. Deforestation is generally occurring in the tropics but for a variety of reasons. The main cause of deforestation is either for agriculture or for domestic fuel requirements, which between them, account for almost half of the trees cut down worldwide. There have been, and continue

It is a prejudice the idea that paper is bad for the environment. In fact, the pulp and paper industry is one of the few that makes really sustainable products. The exception is coming from countries not yet commited to protect their forest resources, but they are decreasing. This is not the case in Europe were the forest area is increasing each year. The rate of replanted trees in good managed forests are three to four times more than the cutting pace. This means that the forests are growing and also renewed by young trees which absorb more CO2 from the atmosphere then older trees. Beeing paper a wood product it will store carbon with its lifetime. In adition, most of the forests are certified by independent and non profit organizations. Two of the most known entities that certifies that paper used is coming from sustainable forests are: - the Forest Stewardship Council ( FSC ) and - the Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification ( PEFC ). According to FSC, "the amount

A report from the Kelsey Group, mentions the following case of success: Profiles of Success - Local News Goes Multiplatform in Las Vegas, by Rob Curley, President and Executive Editor, Greenspun Media and Chris Jennewein, Senior VP and Publisher, Greenspun Media. The Opportunity In Las Vegas, Greenspun Media owns a local newspaper, radio station, cable news outlet, local alternative weekly, weekly newspapers and several tourism-related publications. The objective was to determine how to drive synergy across these key properties and position Greenspun for the future. The Solution The solution was to develop an "online first" approach, with all new online staff and new Web sites. "What attracted us to Greenspun was that we could change the rules," said Greenspun Publisher Chris Jennewein. Since Greenspun's Las Vegas Sun was the No. 2 newspaper in town, "we had no core print business to support and defend." Moreover, Greenspun's TV properties can supp

To produce paper we need forests and most of the people think that using paper we are contributing to cut the trees and this is dramatically bad for the environment. However, most of the forests are already well managed in the sense that these forests are growing more then the pace of cutting the trees. Forests in Europe, growing and well managed are a good contribution to countering the threats of climate change. Most of them are certified forests in accordance with PEFC and FSC (1). Young forests binds more carbon then older ones. The driving force is coming from Sweden, which is following a direction towards a sustainable forest industry. According to "The Forest Industry - a Natural part of Sweeden" (3), growth of sweedish forests will increase by 20 million cubic meters by 2020, which represents 20% increase. The positive impact on environment from managed forests in relation with forests left untouched, has to be also compared with the effects of paper and printing prod

To ilustrate this mobile marketing feature that integrates print to online publishing, Goss International introduced the technology called RSVP. According to Brian Lawler, " the product is a two-dimensional bar code in a small graphic (about 1 cm. square) with a small logo included. The bar code is printed into an advertisement, and can be read by a scanner or (and this is the differentiating part) a cell phone camera. The idea promoted by Goss is that the RSVP code will become a well-known symbol for market bargains, sales and discounts. Once the code is captured, the cell phone can send the customer to a web page, or alternatively, the RSVP code initiates an event that sends a digital coupon back to the cell phone. It can b e low-sophistication, or high-sophistication". Brian continues explaining "the idea is that you could be reading your newspaper, and could photograph an advert featuring an RSVP code with your cell phone. The cell phone would then receive a digital

There are advancements in the printing technolgy. Last Graph Expo 2008 (Drupa) showed some interesting developments. The HP Inkjet Web Press , is one on them. We can see from the HP site (1) some of the features. The HP Inkjet Web Press represents a new product category for HP in the commercial printing marketplace. Specifically targeting high-volume production operations, the HP Inkjet Web Press establishes a unique combination of width, productivity, print economics, and print quality at high speed. Taking our design guidance directly from high volume printers, HP is delivering a Press with a 762mm web that runs up to 122 meters per minute. Width and linear speed comprise the two key elements of productivity, and the HP Inkjet Web Press equation delivers up to 2,600 full color impressions per minute. Additionally, our wider platform will enable printers to bring the benefits of digital to new areas. Book signatures, full sized newspaper broadsheets, and a variety of multi-up formats