Book Industry Environmental Council

Tracking Environmental Progress

The proposal for tracking environmental progress involves annual surveys for paper manufacturers, printers and publishers. While these surveys focus primarily on the use of recycled fiber and third party certified papers, there are also questions regarding the bleaching process of papers used, sources of energy used to manufacture the paper, distances that fiber travels, and the use of low VOC (volatile organic compounds) inks.

The Tracking Progress Committee also proposed that a longer survey be administered every 5 years which would include additional questions required to calculate the industry’s carbon footprint (for example, questions about office energy use and travel).

The surveys will be administered by the Book Industry Study Group, which has a long history of respecting the confidentiality of companies in the book industry. Only aggregate results for the industry will be reported, and BISG will guarantee confidentiality of all data gathered from survey participants. The detailed proposal and the annual survey are available here.

This proposal was approved by a majority vote of the Book Industry Environmental Council in March of 2009.