We are pleased to announce that beginning with the February/March issue, Sojourners will be printed on recycled paper and use ink that is partially soy-based.
For more than a year, we have surveyed the paper market with three factors foremost in our minds: maximization of recycled paper content; minimization of cost increase; and maintenance of excellent printing quality. With our new paper stock, we think that we have made the best possible next step.
Both the text pages and cover pages consist of paper with at least 10 percent post-consumer and 40 percent pre-consumer recycled stock. Post-consumer waste includes only those items that have been sold or distributed to consumers and then recycled. Pre-consumer waste includes unused paper from the paper-making process, bindery trimmings, and printed paper products that have never been distributed.
With the current state of technology, U.S. paper-making plants cannot produce a decent quality paper that contains more than 10 percent post-consumer waste. That should change in the not-too-distant future. It is our promise to you that Sojourners will always be printed on the best quality and most affordable paper available, with the highest possible percentage of post-consumer recycled stock.
In addition, Sojourners is printed using ink with the highest percentage of soy-based oil that technology allows.
With these changes, everything we produce here at Sojourners--from educational materials to subscription invoices, from press mailings to Sojourners magazine--is now done on recycled paper. And, of course, we recycle paper, glass, metals, and other materials in the office.
This process has helped make us even more aware of the substantial shortfalls in our society's commitment to take steps on behalf of the environment--and not all of the limitations are technological. For example, the federal government continues to subsidize companies that produce paper from virgin stock. And for many businesses, large and small, the bottom line is the profit margin, not care for the environment.
We are gratified to be able to make this important move to recycled paper and soy-based ink--a significant stride forward on behalf of the Earth.
Joe Roos was publisher of Sojourners when this article appeared.
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