Quarto Communications in good company in environmental awards

Quarto Communications Ltd. of Toronto, the publishers of Cottage Life and explore magazines, has been cited as a finalist and "long time leader" in the annual Aveda Environmental Awards for Magazines, presented in Minnesota.

The 2009 awards for environmental leadership, sponsored by the beauty products firm and Green America, a non-profit organization promoting responsible paper and production practices, gave top honours to Mother Earth News, Audubon and Boho magazines.

“As an advertiser, Aveda encourages all publishers to adopt environmentally responsible paper and production practices," the company said.

“In an industry where less than two percent of all North American magazines are printed on recycled paper, the message from this year's winners is 'Yes We Can,’ ” says Frank Locantore, director, Green America Better Paper Project, a non-profit that assists magazine publishers in identifying and implementing  environmentally responsible paper and production practices.

“In a  tough economy and facing serious climate change challenges, Mother Earth News, Audubon, Boho and all the other entries are saying 'Yes We Can' to using recycled paper and producing beautiful and financially sound magazines."

Quarto's Cottage Life and explore and its recently acquired Canadian Home Workshop are among the some 200 North American magazines which use sustainable "green paper" with a significant amount of recycled content. (Probably fewer than 30 Canadian magazines so far use such paper.)

Since its launch in 1970, the awards team said in a release, Mother Earth News uses 100 per cent recycled paper of which 90 percent is post-consumer recyled to serve its paid circulation of 475,000 copies.

Audubon, a photo heavy magazine for nature enthusiasts, outdoor adventurers and socially conscious consumers, is nevertheless printed on 90 percent post-consumer recycled paper. Heidi DeVos, production director said

“We began with 10 percent post consumer recycled content in our body stock in 1993, switched to 30 percent post in 2004, and to 90 percent post in 2009. We consistently win photography and design awards, whichjust goes to show that good color reproduction can be maintained on paper with a high level of post-consumer recycled fiber.”

Boho, a green fashion-lifestyle magazine that launched in 2008, is the first and only US fashion and beauty magazine to use 100 percent recycled post-consumer paper; the awards program pointed out that a fashion magazine using the same amount of paper as Boho but not using any cycled material, requires 296 tons of virgin wood from a forest.

“We knew that the only way we would launch a print publication was if we never cut down a tree to do it,” says Gina La Morte, editor in chief/publisher. “Boho's commitment to using 100 percent recycled post-consumer waste paper is as much a part of our mission as is the gorgeous green content we put on its pages.”