Australian Newsagency Blog

The ‘green’ magazine section we created in our home and living category around two months ago is driving good sales.  Last week, we had one customer buy four of the titles we have on display.  Discussing her purchase, she made it clear that having the titles together and in this location were key factors in […]

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The O’BON journals, pencils and folders we have are selling well.  Our customers like the environmental story. The journals are made using sugar cane pulp and the pencils are made from recycled newspapers - yes, an excellent like to one our core products there! The good environmental story with O’BON is enhanced by excellent product […]

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We have brought in a range of pencils, notebooks and other items with excellent green credentials. The pencils are made using recycled newspapers.  The paper in the notebooks is made from sugarcane pulp.  The manufacturer uses wasted pulp, a by product of sugarcane, to produce the paper in the notebooks.
The design of each item is […]

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We have moved four magazines which always feature articles on green environmentally friendly living to a new location and created better retail story. We have placed Green Living, Green Smart, ReNew and G Magazine in our home, living and garden magazine section.
While sales of green titles are not strong, I am certain that better […]

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The UK Periodical Publishers Association launched a carbon calculator for magazines at the Fipp 2009 World Magazine Congress in London yesterday.  This is an important move which facilitates publisher interest in environmentally aware publishing.

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Tom Zeller, writing at The New York Times compares the environmental impact of print newspapers versus accessing the same content online.

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Check out Green & Design magazine, a soon to launch digital monthly published by Nielsen Business Media in the US. PaidContent has more on this story.

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Peter Cox pulls no punches in his article about newspapers bublished at Business Spectator.
Cutting down trees and selling them on street corners is a dinosaur doomed to extinction in its present form.
I suspect that environmental issues will play a bigger role in shaping the future of print mediathan we have expected.

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Discover magazine published an excellent article in April 2008 about the carbon footprint of each issue.  It wroked back the carbon cost of each issue from in-the-field news gathering through production, the retail and subscription distribution channels and, ultimately, to recycling.
The article got me thinking about the carbon footprint for a copy of Discover purchased […]

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Legislation banning the use of plastic bags was passed in South Australia on Thursday. The Government has a good website with all the details. This makes it easier for retailers to deal with this complex issue. Acting on a law is far easier than a voluntary situation. We have tried a couple […]

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This photo shows a range of products made from recycled magazines.  They use a technique similar to that used for making household items from bamboo.  The items I saw look and feel good.  The environmental message is strong, especially in the magazine space.  These are items which would fit nicely in a newsagency, especially if […]

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Canadian Forest Products Association President Avrim Lazar delivered an interesting speech at the American Magazine Conference last week. Click here for the Canadian Mags blog coverage. He talked about the environmental challenges of using paper and the risk of consumers turning against print.
People will feel that they are dinosaurs, that they are […]

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What if newsagents introduce a cardboard recycle box for customers who return old magazines when they come in to purchase new issues? This would present a good community message and build habit - getting customers to return to us. Of course, there would have to be some rules around what we do with […]

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The Enviro range from Debden is the other 2009 diary range of note we have in store right now. Produced on recycled paper, this range is fashionable and sustainable. As with my previous post, it will be important for us to ensure that our teams know about the back story for these diaries.
Speaking […]

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I am pleased we have the Debden Kyoto range of diaries in stock. These carbon neutral 2009 diaries will appeal to our customers. That we have them in-stock demonstrates that we have taken care to offer an environmentally friendly product. Printed on recycled paper, these diaries are sure to be a hit […]

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OfficeMax in the US has announced that they will carry a range of “green” office products from Terra Cycle. Made from recycled materials, these products are as good for the OfficeMax image as they are for the environment. The story of getting good media attention in the US.
In Hong Kong last week I […]

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