According to a recent report by the Northeast Recycling Council, the multi-state recycling organization has received commitments from newspaper publishers in the Northeast that will ensure that 86% of the newsprint used in the Northeast will have an average recycled content rate of 27%.
The NERC began a program in 1997 to expand the use of recycled content newsprint region. To drive the goal, Northeast states established the Northeast Newspaper Recycling Task Force to find out if goals were attainable.
The Task Force worked throughout 1998 to develop a new regional policy affecting Northeast publishers' purchases of recycled-content newsprint. The objective of this new approach was to drive additional investments in, and maximum utilization of, recycled-fiber based manufacturing capacity by the North American newsprint industry, thereby sustaining the economics of old newspaper recycling in the Northeast.
Under this new approach, large newspapers and newspaper groups selling into the region were asked to endorse a resolution committing them to purchase newsprint containing a minimum level of recycled fiber content newsprint annually. This minimum level, or floor, would be based on the purchase of recycled fibers and would have to average at least 27 percent of total fiber purchases each year. Once endorsements were received committing 80% of the regional annual tonnage of newsprint to the goal of achieving an average 27% recycled content rate, the full implementation period would begin. At that time NERC staff would be responsible for tracking publishers' annual recycled-content purchases, including administering surveys, and compiling and reporting results. State publisher associations and the Newspaper Association of America would assist NERC in coordinating this effort.
The Publishers who have committed to the recycled content goal and annual reported are:
Bangor Daily News,
Dow Jones,
Gannett,
Journal Register,
Knight Ridder,
Massachusetts Newspapers,
Media News,
New York Times,
Providence Journal,
Syracuse Papers,
The Record (Bergen),
The Star Ledger, and
The Tribune.
The Tribune owns:
Newsday (New York),
The Advocate (Stamford, CT),
Greenwich Times,
TheHartford Courant,
The Free Press (Quakertown, PA), and
Morning Call (Allentown, PA).
More information on the program may be obtained by contacting Lynn Rubinstein, NERC executive director, at (802) 254-3636.