Paper

As we deliver more of our products online, our consumption of production paper continues to decrease (65,777 tonnes in 2010 to 58,279 tonnes in 2011). Although still a significant impact area, we have seen a 39% reduction between 2007 and 2011. As well as smaller print runs, we are also continuing to take proactive reduction measures, moving from litho to digital printing, print on demand, and lighter papers where possible.

As founding members of PREPS, we have helped create the PREPS database to capture the technical specifications of the pulps and forest sources of our papers. Each paper is given stars according to sustainability criteria; one (unknown or unwanted material), three (known and responsible) or five (recycled, FSC or PEFC certified). The grading system was initially developed by PREPS member Egmont UK Ltd and sustainability consultants Acona, along with input from Greenpeace and WWF.

The Reed Elsevier Paper Policy commits us to increasing the proportion of paper we buy with recycled and certified content and to only purchase PREPS grade 3 or 5 paper wherever possible. With help from our paper suppliers, by the close of 2011, 93% of Reed Elsevier papers by weight were graded on PREPS, all of which achieved three or five stars. Though PREPS is now the largest paper database in the world with nearly 10,000 active papers from 218 mills, our paper is graded by PREPS as time allows. Our procurement teams receive regular training on the PREPS database and when we identified a small amount of paper that could potentially have contained unknown or unwanted material, we changed suppliers.

In 2011, a PREPS 'Favourites' section was added to prioritise papers. We also began collecting data for CO₂ and water use in producing specific papers which will provide a more complete picture of the paper we buy.

We use approximately 1,000 tonnes of office paper a year (around 4,500 sheets per person). To reduce levels, we have lowered the amount of sheets per person in the Environmental Standards programme to 2,800. We continue to roll out multifunctional devices for printing, scanning, and copying, and by removing standalone printers, we decrease energy as well as paper use.

We were once again ranked first in our sector in the Forest Footprint Disclosure, which identifies how companies are addressing risks associated with deforestation.