The seventh book in the blockbuster Potter franchise is being touted as the greenest book in publishing history, thanks to a non-profit group that has persuaded publishers, printers and pulp producers to opt for forest-friendly paper. Raincoast Books, which expects to sell about 1.2 million copies of "Deathly Hallows," was the first publisher to back the initiative in 2003.

Today, 16 publishing houses worldwide have committed to using recycled, or ancient forest friendly (AFF), paper for the final instalment of J.K. Rowling's wizard tale.That will mean 200,000 fewer trees will be felled to feed Potter demand, or the equivalent of 2.5 green and leafy Central Parks, according to Nicole Rycroft, executive director of Markets Initiative, the Vancouver-based group behind the push.

"In 2000, nobody was using forest-friendly fibres, because none of them could. The cost was prohibitively expensive," Rycroft said. The push to go green got a big boost when Rowling herself joined the campaign, writing a frontispiece especially for the Canadian edition. "When Raincoast showed there was a demand, we saw the market shift. We started doing research and development.The product improved and the price began to come down."

Instead of rough paper with a flecked gray cast, Cascades, Raincoast's paper supplier for the Potter book, now sells a book-quality offering that is made from post-consumer waste paper. That means that no fragile old-growth forests are disturbed in the paper-making process. Other authors, including David Suzuki and Al Gore, now demand that their books be printed on "green" paper, said Normand Lecours, Cascades' vice-president of marketing and sales.

"On pure economics, using virgin forests is still cheaper, but demand for the eco-friendly product continues to grow," he said. Using recycled paper, which is collected, sorted and de-inked by Cascades before being reprocessed, also translates into lower water and electricity consumption and lower greenhouse gas emissions. In another nod to the environment, Cascades also uses methane extracted from a landfill to power its mill instead of costlier natural gas.

Raincoast now prints 98 per cent of its titles on AFF paper. It isn't alone. Montreal's Vehicule Press was an early supporter of the program, while Toronto-based McClelland & Stewart came on board in 2002 when Alice Munro asked that her new book, "Hateship, Friendship, Courtship, Loveship, Marriage" be printed on eco-friendly paper.

"When an author of status says: I want this,' you listen," said Doug Pepper, president of M&S. The company produces about 120 new titles each year. "Not to be all Al Gore about it, but we do it because it's the right thing to do. The cost has been an issue, but as more publishers get on board, its become less of an issue." Sometimes, public pressure helps bring publishers around to the idea. In 2005, when "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix" came out, the book's U.S. publisher, Scholastic, did not use green paper for its 10.5-million-copy print run, the largest in the world.

Greenpeace and other groups urged consumers to boycott the U.S. edition and to order the book online from Canada. This time, Scholastic is on board. Its 12 million copies will contain 65-per-cent paper produced in an environmentally and socially sustainable manner. At least 35 per cent will be made from post-consumer waste paper. It isn't perfect, but it will save about 130,000 trees, and that's a start.
(By Mary Lamey, Montreal Gazette, 20/07/2007)