Publishers are adopting increasingly eco-responsible policies within their companies. This is the conclusion drawn by the Environment and Manufacturing Commission of the Syndicat national de l'édition (SNE) at the end of a survey of publishers on the consumption of paper for the manufacture of their books in 2018.
According to this study, 95% of the paper purchased by publishers in 2018 is certified or recycled. This rate was 86% in 2013, the organization says. PEFC or FSC paper purchases account for 94% of paper purchases. Recycled paper remains marginal, accounting for 1% of purchases, compared to 2% in 2013. This decline can be explained by " ?la decrease in the supply of recycled paper and [...] its unsuitability to the needs of publishers ?", according to the union.
In total, the consumption of the publishers who responded to the survey amounts to 188?092 tons of paper over the year 2018. Compared to 2013, five years earlier, the SNE notes a decrease in paper consumption of around 3%.
The majority of paper is purchased by publishing houses (76%), while purchases via printers are more specifically aimed at small/medium sized publishers who do not have an integrated purchasing department within their company.
The SNE specifies that the book's journey, from production to recycling, is entirely taken care of and managed by the industrial sector. Thus, 100% of the pestle is recycled. Furthermore, according to ADEME, paper consumption by French publishing accounts for 6.3% of the total consumption of graphic paper in France for the year 2018.
