This week, the English language edition of the new J.K. Rowling book Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince hits the bookstores. Greenpeace is commending the Canadian and German publishers for printing the book on ancient forest friendly papers. (1) Bloomsbury, the UK publisher of Harry Potter has also made some good progress. The Italian and Israeli translations are also expected to follow suit when published in the autumn. Greenpeace is now calling on other less progressive Harry Potter publishers, like Scholastic, to move in a similar direction.
In 2003, Canadian Publisher Raincoast Books, working withthe Markets Initiative (2) set a positive trend for Harry Potter publishers inhelping to save the world’s ancient forests by printing ‘Harry Potter and theOrder of the Phoenix’ on a 100% post consumer recycled paper. Since then,Greenpeace has been encouraging other Harry Potter publisher to print theirbook on ancient forest friendly paper as part of the Greenpeace Book Campaign(3).
Gavin Edwards, ofGreenpeace International said, “It is great to see that some HarryPotter publishers following the lead set by Raincoast books. It is now up to less progressive publishers like Scholastic in the USA, to respond to the challenge that has been laid down.”
With thepublication of Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince, Raincoast is againprinting the Canadian edition on a 100% post consumer recycled paper. Thistrend is now being echoed by other publishers across the globe.
· TheGerman edition published by Carlsen will be printed on 40%post-consumer recycled paper with the rest of the virgin fibre comingfrom Forest Stewardship Council™ certified sources. The FSC® is the only way you can ensure that the virgin fibre is coming from environmentally and socially responsible sources.
· TheUK edition, published by Bloomsbury is expected to be printed on a 30%FSC® certified paper – a positive first step by the publishing house.Greenpeace appreciates the efforts that Bloomsbury have made and hopesthat the publisher will move towards entirely ancient forest friendlypapers for future Harry Potter print runs.
· TheIsraeli and Italian editions, published by Books in the Attic andYediot Ahronot Books (Israel) and Salani (Italy) have made commitmentsto print the book on ancient forest friendly paper when they arepublished this autumn.
“TheUS publisher Scholastic is one of the largest Harry Potter publishersglobally. If they had printed the book on 100% recycled paper, likeRaincoast, its 10.8 million print run could have saved 217,475 trees,” continued Edwards.
Greenpeace is also urging other Harry Potter publishers like EditorialSalamandra (Spain) and Buhrmann (Holland), who are still makingdecisions on which paper to use for their editions, to follow the leadtaken by Raincoast Books, Carlsen, Bloomsbury, Books in the Attic,Yediot Ahronot Books and Salani and save some ancient muggle forests.
Other contacts: Gina Sanchez, Greenpeace Communications, +31 627 00 0064
Notes: (1) Ancient forest friendly papers are those that maximise recycled content with any virgin fibre coming from Forest Stewardship Council™ (FSC®) certified sources. (2) The Markets Initiative is a coalition project between Greenpeace Canada, Friends of Clayoquot Sound and the Sierra Club. For more information visit www.oldgrowthfree.com or contact Nicole Rycroft, Director on +1 250 725 8050.(3) The Greenpeace Book Campaign encourages publishers to stop sourcing paper from ancient forests and to start developing ancient forest friendly solutions. The ecologic