For Immediate Release

Contact: Judith Platt

Ph: 202-220-4551

AAP Unveils Handbook on Book Paper and the Environment

New Publication Will Help De-Mystify Environmental Issues for Publishers

Washington, DC, February 20, 2008:  The Association of American Publishers today unveiled its brand new Handbook on Book Paper and the Environment, a practical guide that the Association hopes will assist publishers in navigating the confusing and often arcane issues relating to the development of environmental sustainability practices within the book publishing industry. 

Developed by the AAP Paper Issues Working Group, the Handbook is the first of its kind to address a range of environmental issues in the specific context of the book publishing industry, and reflects more than two years of extensive consultations and discussions with organizations representing a broad spectrum of interests, including environmental advocacy groups, forest certification and standards bodies, environmental industry consortiums and associations, economists, paper mills, and others, covering a host of governmental, commercial and environmental issues as they relate to book paper production and the environment.

The Handbook is intended as an informational tool for book production professionals, their staff, and their executive management interested in creating workable independent sustainability programs, providing up-to-date information to assist in efforts to balance economic and ecologic realities.  Among the areas covered in the Handbook are recycling (including pre- and post-consumer recycled fiber distinctions), forestry certification standards, “chain of custody,” issues facing paper and recycling manufacturers, global practices and economic impacts, and green production efforts.  The Handbook also contains Frequently Asked Questions, and organizational contact information.

The AAP Paper Issues Working Group represents a broad cross-section of the AAP membership.  Its members include: American Chemical Society, Cambridge University Press, CQ Press, Hachette Book Group USA, Harcourt, HarperCollins USA, Harvest House Publishers, John Wiley & Sons, Keene Publishing, Lantern Books, Macmillan, McGraw-Hill, Pearson, Random House, Scholastic, and Simon & Schuster, and W.W. Norton.

An Executive Summary of the Handbook is available on request from Tina Jordan (tjordan@publishers.org).  For additional information about the Handbook or the Paper Issues Working Group contact Tina Jordan or Ed McCoyd (emccoyd@publishers.org).

The Association of American Publishers is the national trade association of the U.S. book publishing industry. AAP’s more than 300 members include most of the major commercial publishers in the United States, as well as smaller and non-profit publishers, university presses and scholarly societies—small and large. AAP members publish hardcover and paperback books in every field, educational materials for the elementary, secondary, postsecondary, and professional markets, scholarly journals, computer software, and electronic products and services. 

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