Volume 1, Number 2
Jul 1994

A Roundup on Recycling and Environmentalism

• Interest in environmental concerns is fading away, according to an article in the London Economist (March 5) and an Associated Press story by David E. Kalish that ran April 3.

  The Economist says, in a one-page article entitled "Environmental Groups: As Green Turns to Brown," that membership in Greenpeace, the Sierra Club and the Wilderness Society declined significantly between 1990 and 1993. However, the article's title is misleading, because a table shows that some organizations grew significantly during the same period, namely the Environmental Defence Fund, the Nature Conservancy, and the National Resources Defence Council, which all grew by about 25%. In 1991-92, contributions to environmental and wildlife groups increased by 2.4%, the article says, more than any other sort of charitable giving.

  The Associated Press story emphasizes the economic misfortunes of "green magazines" like Garbage, Buzzworm, and Green Business Letter.

• Since it is impossible to analyze a piece of paper and tell how much of it is recycled fiber, Canada's Environmental Choice guidelines require independent third party verification of all claims for recycled and post-consumer content. In the United States we have no such provision. Noranda Forest's newsletter Portfolio for March/April 1994 lists this and five other recycling concepts as defined by the Canadian Environmental Choice and U.S. EPA programs. Noranda Forest is represented in the U.S. by Fraser Paper, Ltd., of Stamford, CT (800/920-9988).
• President Clinton's executive order of last October, mandating the use of recycled paper in the executive branch, is being implemented. Since it specifically eliminates "non-performance" related procurement barriers such as brightness, the Government Printing Office bought a 100% recycled photocopy paper on its quarterly paper contract beginning January 1994. This paper is greyish tan. The GPO says it saved a lot of money on it. The color is as dark as the background on the 1-cent and 3-cent postage stamps, the ones with birds on them. According to Pantone Color Formula Guide 747XR, it falls between Warm Gray 1U and Cool Gray 1U.