(Toronto, Tuesday, June 3, 2008)? The Canadian magazine industry and Markets Initiative are pleased to announce the launch of The Magazine Eco Kit, a compendium of tips, terms, resources and papers for environmentally friendly magazine publishing. The launch will be announced on June 4 at 5:15pm at the Order of the Forest Awards at MagNet, Canada's Magazine Conference,89 Chestnut Street, 2nd Floor in Toronto.

The Magazine Eco Kit offers a collection of ideas and best practices to help publishers make viable choices for a greener, more sustainable publishing industry. The goal of the Eco Kit is to lead all stakeholders from paper manufacturers to publishers to printers towards the development, supply and use of new environmentally friendly papers that meet industry quality, price and supply expectations. Achieving this goal will take the commitment and support of Canadian magazine publishers and printers to generate demand for the manufacture of papers that have high-recycled content and are free of ancient forest fibre and harmful bleaching processes.

A Paper Breakthrough: the Eco Kit was printed by Dollco Printing on an experimental new paper comprised of 20% wheat straw, 40% post-consumer recycled fibre and 40% completely chlorine-free virgin wood fibre. The Wheat Sheet, considered by many to have been an impossibility, is a landmark in North American paper production: it's the first glossy, light weight coated magazine paper made with wheat straw in North America. The Wheat Sheet took more than four years to produce and is the result of a partnership between Canadian Geographic, Markets Initiative, Alberta Research Council, Dollco Printing and a major North American paper mill. Though the use of agricultural residue fibres in North American paper production is now a reality, it brings with it both opportunities and challenges: papers made with wheat are not yet commercially available in North America despite strong market support for this type of paper. The June 2008 edition of Canadian Geographic was the first magazine to be printed on this paper.

The Eco Kit initiative is supported by the following organizations:
Magazines Canada? - BC Association of Magazine Publishers - Markets Initiative - Alberta Magazine Publishers Association - MMPA - Magazines Ontario

Need more information?

Gary Garland, Executive Director of Advertising Services, Magazines Canada

T: 416.596.5318
E: ggarland@magazinescanada.ca
W: www.magazinescanada.ca

Neva Murtha, Magazine Campaigner, Markets Initiative

T: 604.817.4974
E: neva@marketsinitiative.org
W: www.marketsinitiative.org