SAYING GOODBYE TO PLASTIC WRAPS

The year 2019 witnessed a distinct trend among publishers to invest in compostable or sustainable wrapping.

Some did it on their own to help save the environment and some acted in response to their audiences' concerns about single-use plastic.

In early 2019, The Guardian announced it was moving to compostable wrapping called Bioplast 300 derived from potato starch.

In March 2019, Condé Nast in Germany introduced sustainable packaging film made of recycled material for Vogue, Glamor, GQ and AD.

The packaging from a German supplier is 100% recyclable, and will reduce C02 emissions by 27% annually, according to a press release.

In May 2019, News UK, part of News Corp, replaced polybagging with biodegradable wrapping for The Times and The Sunday Times, part of the company's pledge to remove all single-use plastic wrapping by 2020.

Also in May, Immediate Media's BBC Countryfile and BBC Wildlife magazines partnered with Ecotricity and switched to a sustainable paper wrap.

In June, US-based National Geographic also switched out its polybag wrapping for a paper alternative. Together with a single-topic plastics issue of the magazine, National Geographic launched a multi-year initiative aimed at reducing the amount of plastic waste reaching the world's ocean, said Marcelo Galdieri, SVP, brand and franchise operations.

And in early 2020, TI Media started delivering all 42 UK subscriber titles in sustainably sourced and FSC accredited paper, cutting out 10.8 million items of polyethylene a year. The paper wrap is carbon balanced and offsets an estimated 144 metric tonnes of CO2 emissions a year.

“Our ‘Planet or Plastic' initiative asked consumers to make a choice between saving the planet and single-use plastic,” he said. “For us to ask consumers to make that choice, we needed to set the example. One of National Geographic’s key brand attributes is our authenticity. Consumers trust what we say. So if we were asking them to choose the planet, we could not continue to send out our own magazine wrapped in plastic. We had to find an alternative.

“For the first time in nearly 12 years, we sent out our magazine wrapped in paper, and with the message ‘Will this paper wrap save the planet? No, but it's a start.' We also asked all our international licensees to find an alternative that moves away from the poly bags, and become part of this movement with us.

“Switching just our English Edition, which is produced in the US and sent to the UK, India and other countries, is saving more 2.5 million single-use plastic bags per month,” he said. Also in June, Canada's Uppercase magazine Publisher Janine Vangool switched her polybags for kraft mailers.

In July, Hearst UK pledged to replace its plastic polybags with sustainably-sourced paper wraps on all of its print magazines by January 2020. Also in July, TI Media's Country Life started

delivering all of its UK-based subscriber editions in sustainably sourced paper wrap in partnership with printer Walstead UK. Environmetally friendly wraps aren't a money-saving action but a climate-saving measure

Some alternatives are cost-neutral; others add cost. But consumers seem willing to pay more to save the planet.

Going plastic-free will cost Uppercase’s Vangool roughly $4,500 more per issue because of the additional cost of labour required to insert the magazine into the new envelopes.

In addition, Vangool sent out a newsletter to her audience announcing the decision to swap polybags for a compostable alternative and received a lot of positive replies. “I think over 80 people emailed me back with support, saying, 'I'll pay more for a subscription,' and telling me what they were doing in their own lives to be more plasticsfree and environmentally conscious,” Vangool said. “It was nice to hear people saying, 'I'm willing to spend more on this because it's important to me.'”

Like others who made the switch, National Geographic anticipated there would be additional costs to transitioning to paper wrapping. “However, we needed to find a solution that made business sense,” Galdieri said. “Working with our printing partner, we analysed several alternatives — from belly bands, to fugitive glue, and several different types of paper — until we found an alternative that was cost neutral, if we printed in black and white.

“However, we decided on using a full colour wrapper, which brought the cost to approximately 25% more than the poly bag version, in order to meet the high standards our consumers expected from our brand and products,” he said. “This also created an ad sales opportunity for this space which could help offset the incremental cost.”

“Making the switch from a plastic wrapper to any type of solution is not as easy as we anticipated and alone won't save the planet. But it's a start, and National Geographic alone won't be able to make a global impact,” Galdieri said. “We hope to inspire and show the way for other organisations, companies, and governments to do their part in tackling the global plastic waste crisis by reducing, reusing, and encouraging active recycling of plastic. “We all need to choose, Planet or Plastic?” Bioplast 300 derived from potato starch, which replaced its polybag wrapping. News UK, part of News Corp, switched to biodegradable wrapping for The Times and The Sunday Times, part of the company's pledge to remove all singleuse plastic wrapping by 2020.

Also in 2019, two other media companies made the switch: Immediate Media's BBC Countryfile and BBC Wildlife magazines partnered with Ecotricity and switched to a sustainable paper wrap whilst Hearst UK pledged to replace its plastic polybags with sustainably sourced paper wraps on all of its print magazines by January 2020.

But when it comes to a company-wide, topto-bottom, internal and external commitment to corporate sustainability, Meredith takes the top prize. By a mile.

At Meredith, in 2008, the company created an environmental sustainability mission statement and a Sustainability Task Force to make it happen.

“Meredith Corporation has taken a proactive approach to environmental sustainability because such action ultimately benefits our shareholders, our clients, and our employees,” the statement reads. “This approach also demonstrates that companies can be responsible environmental stewards while simultaneously increasing business efficiency, and ultimately shareholder value.”

Among its many achievements, Meredith cites:

• Company-wide use of the EPAT — Environmental Paper Assessment Tool — to track the environmental performance of its paper suppliers and identify potential areas for improvements.

• The corporate headquarters recycles more office materials, such as cardboard, paper, and plastics, than it sends to landfills.

• The completion of a new greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions inventory to create a new baseline year (Fiscal 2019) and ensure its ability to track necessary data in all controlled locations per GHG Protocol guidelines.

• One of the company's Des Moines headquarters offices was the first existing building in Iowa to be LEED certified. The office building Meredith occupies in New York is applying for LEED Gold certification, and Meredith's office in Chicago has set a goal of becoming LEED certified in calendar year 2020.

• On the corporate level, Meredith's actual

tonnage of paper purchased from mills certified ISO 14001 (an environmental management standard for minimising their impact on the environment) increased from 49% to 69%.

• When printing, Meredith has moved to ink optimisation that reduces ink usage for its magazines by 10 to 12% versus traditional methods.

• In 2012, the team began replacing hard page proofs with virtual proofs for colour approval. In 2016, Meredith invested in a soft-proofing software to improve workflow and colour accuracy and is in the process of completely eliminating hard proofs company-wide. • Additionally, Meredith deployed a paperless contract management system using digital approvals and e-signatures. In 2017, almost 20,000 total pages of contracts were processed electronically, and more than 6,200 documents were processed electronically.

• To reduce unsold copies distributed to retail outlets, Meredith developed a magazine wholesaler incentive programme to improve each title's overall distribution process. Due to this process, as well as other initiatives, Meredith has reduced the number of copies printed and distributed to its retail channel by more than 130 million since 2009. Meredith's wholesale partners then recycle unsold copies and sell the material to paper producers around the world.

• Consumers can subscribe, renew, give gifts, and pay for their subscriptions online. If this option did not exist, Meredith would have had to double the amount of direct mail sent in 2018.

• Meredith has also made great strides in reducing the size of direct mail packages. In 2019, the current standard package used 50% less paper than the standard package used in 2008. By consolidating magazine delivery for customers who subscribe to multiple magazines, Meredith also anticipates a 15% reduction in the use of plastic polybags in 2020 compared to 2019.

For a list of sustainability initiatives at Meredith's far-flung media companies, see the sidebar.

Another poster child for media companies taking their environmental responsibility seriously at the corporate level and field level is The Guardian (see sidebar for details).

At The Guardian, the leadership made a pledge to its readers that “we will play our part, both in our journalism and in our own organisation, to address the climate emergency.” That has translated into:

• A commitment to achieve net zero emissions by 2030

• A full audit of its emissions to assess how it will achieve this challenging goal

• Divesting of all oil, coal, and gas companies from the company's investment fund

• Acquiring B Corp status, which commits the company to reducing its environmental impact as well as to high standards of governance and social impact

• A promise to be transparent and accountable

• And, in early 2020, the decision to no longer accept advertising from oil or gas companies in any of its properties, digital or print

Companies like Meredith and The Guardian give the rest of us great examples of how we might follow in their footsteps in reducing our environmental impact… whilst also reducing costs and increasing revenues. How many initiatives can match that ROI?

“MEREDITH'S APPROACH ALSO DEMONSTRATES THAT COMPANIES CAN BE RESPONSIBLE ENVIRONMENTAL STEWARDS WHILE SIMULTANEOUSLY INCREASING BUSINESS EFFICIENCY, AND ULTIMATELY SHAREHOLDER VALUE.”

Crystal Barnes SVP, Nielsen Global Responsability & Sustainability Team