Australian Newsagency Blog

Thirroul Newsagency has just been awarded a Healthy Cities Award for its pioneering decision to ditch plastic bags in favour of environmentally friendly paper packaging.  What a great story of leadership on environmental issues from a local newsagent.  Well done Thirroul Newsagency!

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US Office retailwer Office Depot is supporting Earth Day today is giving members of its Worklife Rewards® loyalty program 100% back on their purchases of green products. It’s a clever way to promote green credentials and drive business.

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Editor & Publisher published an update Friday on News Corp’s progress toward fulfilling the goal of being carbon neutral by the end of this year.  With many shoppers concerned about the environment, the information could be useful for newsagents and fit with a broader environmental strategy.

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The Last Diary Company has a good range of eco-friendly journals which our customers like.  The photo shows three of the journals, there are other items in the broader range.  They are part of our green stationery offer which also includes the O’Bon pencils, journals and folders about which I have written previously.  Sales of […]

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We are encouraging shoppers to sample the O’BON pencils we have which are made from recycled newspaper.  By having test pencils and a sharpener, they can see the newsprint tightly rolled to make up the pencils.  This small piece of retail theatre makes the pencils a good performer.  It demonstrates the authenticity of the product […]

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It is good to see more calendars promoting their green credentials.  We have a range printed with soy-based inks on recycled paper.  Customers like that we have this option available for them.  I am impressed with the designs in the eco friendly range - they cover popular calendar categories.
Newsagents have an opportunity to own consumer […]

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Maybe it is just us but sales of green related magazines are down following a year of good results.  We created the green section in the photo in among our home and living titles, opposite our women’s weeklies section.  It has performed well until the last couple of months.  The performance of green titles is […]

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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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