THE ENVIRONMENT Activists push catalogue companies to go green BY NINA MAMIKUNIAN

The next time you look in your mailbox and find a new catalogue, you may really be looking at an environmental issue rather than spring fashions. According to Environmental Defense, a national nonprofit organization based in New York, catalogue companies mailed 17 billion catalogues last year — 59 for every man, woman, and child in the US — using 3.6 million tons of new paper in the process. Because of the amount of waste and pollution involved in this process, Environmental Defense is asking the catalogue companies to substitute 10 percent recycled paper, instead of virgin paper, to cut down on the adverse environmental impact.

Environmental Defense began its campaign in 1999 when it surveyed the leaders of the catalogue industry and found that almost none of them used recycled paper. Since the initial survey, several companies have worked with the environmental group to switch to more Earth-friendly paper. Norm Thompson Outfitters, which made the switch in 2001 to using recycled paper in the covers, inside pages and order forms for its catalogues, has been named an industry leader. Omaha Steaks and Disney Direct also use recycled paper throughout their catalogues, although companies like Bloomingdale’s by Mail, J.C. Penney, J. Crew, Nordstrom, Pottery Barn, Williams-Sonoma, L.L. Bean, and Eddie Bauer do not. Victoria Mills, Environmental Defense’s project manager, says these companies cited concerns that recycled paper does not look as good or sell as well as virgin paper.

The benefits of recycled paper are clear. It reduces the demand for new wood, it cuts down on manufacturing pollution and energy use, and it reduces solid waste. But many companies remain more concerned about the production cost and consumer response than what they’re doing to the planet. Environmental Defense contends that using recycled, rather than virgin, paper doesn’t effect consumer spending and won’t increase expenses for these companies. Not only is recycled paper widely available, it’s priced competitively with virgin paper, and prints just as well. Says Mills, "There is a big opportunity for the catalogue industry to lighten their load on the Earth and still meet their business needs."

Paper manufacturing and use are important concerns for environmentalists. Paper cuts across such environmental issues as stabilizing the climate and protecting forests and oceans.

But is it an important issue to the companies and their consumers? When surveyed, many of the cataloguers indicated that their customers do not care whether they used recycled paper. Environmental Defense responded with Does Your Catalogue Care?, a report that named names and asked consumers to express their sentiments to their favorite catalogue companies. The effort triggered a flood of 22,000 e-mails. Environmental Defense is continuing to work with several companies on this issue, although it can’t detail progress until additional switches to recycled paper have been made official. (More information is available at www.environmentaldefense.org.)