NERC | Northeast Recycling Council
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Newspaper Publishers’ Agreement UpdatesJune 2000 Due to the stability of the data reported for the five years 2001-2005, progress reports will now be biennial, rather than annual. The next report will be for calendar year 2007. June 2000As reported in the February Email Bulletin, due to staff and priority changes at the New York Times (NYT), it is no longer able to lead the publisher recruiting effort described in Final Report of the Northeast Newspaper Recycling Task Force. Fortunately, the Newspaper Association of America (NAA) is picking up where the NYT left off. Since NAA has taken the leadership role in ensuring that the goal of having publishers representing 80% of newspaper used annually in the region commit to the task force's recommendations is reached, several publishing companies have added their support to the regional approach. These companies include The Star Ledger (Newark), Macromedia, EW Scripps, and the MediaNews Group. With these additional commitments, NERC now has publishers accounting for over 1.2 million tons of annual newspaper use formally committed to the regional approach. This represents 63% of newspaper use region wide. In order to reach the 80% goal, we will need a newspaper accounting for an additional 340,000 to support the regional approach. NERC will continue to work with NAA to ensure that is goal is attained. For further information contact Lynn Rubinstein at NERC.
November 2000As reported in the June Email Bulletin, the Newspaper Association of America (NAA) is spearheading efforts to encourage the region's newspaper publishers to support the recommendations of the Northeast Newspaper Recycling Task Force. NAA, in cooperation with NERC, is striving to have publishers representing 80% of newspaper used annually in the region commit to the task force's recommendations. Currently, publishers accounting for over 1.2 million tons of annual newspaper use formally committed to the regional approach. This represents 63% of newspaper use region wide. In order to reach the 80% goal, we will need newspapers accounting for an additional 340,000 tons to support the regional approach. NAA is targeting several large newspaper conglomerates in the region. NAA and NERC anticipate that by, or soon after, NERC's upcoming Fall Meeting, the 80 percent goal will be achieved. For further information contact Lynn Rubinstein.
September 2001Northeast Newspaper Publishers Agreement Achieves Goal of 80% CommitmentIt's happened - NERC has received commitments from newspaper publishers in the Northeast that will ensure that 86% of the newsprint used in the Northeast will have an average recycled content rate of 27%. Beginning in1997 NERC spearheaded a ten state collaborative effort to expand the use of recycled content newsprint region. Concern about meeting state-established recycled content goals of at least 40% by the year 2000 prompted publishers in several Northeast states to urge a reassessment of the goals. The lack of new investments in recycling capacity by manufacturers supplying finished newsprint to the region since 1995 was at the root of their concern. In recognition of this fact, state-recycling officials and publishers in the Northeast agreed to establish the Northeast Newspaper Recycling Task Force to determine whether out-year goals were attainable. NERC, with its long history of monitoring the availability of recycled newsprint in the region and of maintaining a dialogue between publishers and states, was chosen to organize and lead this effort. The Task Force worked throughout 1998 to develop a new regional policy affecting Northeast publishers' purchases of recycled-content newsprint. The objective of this new approach was to drive additional investments in, and maximum utilization of, recycled-fiber based manufacturing capacity by the North American newsprint industry, thereby sustaining the economics of old newspaper recycling in the Northeast. Under this new approach, large newspapers and newspaper groups selling into the region were asked to endorse a resolution committing them to purchase newsprint containing a minimum level of recycled fiber content newsprint annually. This minimum level, or floor, would be based on the purchase of recycled fibers and would have to average at least 27 percent of total fiber purchases each year. Once endorsements were received committing 80% of the regional annual tonnage of newsprint to the goal of achieving an average 27% recycled content rate, the full implementation period would begin. At that time NERC staff would be responsible for tracking publishers' annual recycled-content purchases, including administering surveys, and compiling and reporting results. State publisher associations and the Newspaper Association of America would assist NERC in coordinating this effort. The full Task Force report and resolution can be viewed on the NERC web site. Thanks to the efforts of the Newspaper Association of America, As of July 27, 2001 this long desired goal has been achieved. As of that date 86% of the annual newsprint consumption in the region has endorsed the agreement. Thus, the monitoring and evaluation period now begins. Letters have been sent to each of the signatory publishers asking for baseline data for average recycled content in calendar year 2000. The Publishers who have committed to the recycled content goal and annual reported are:
November 2001Baseline
Data for Newspaper Publishers Agreement
The results are quite impressive.
In addition to the impressive average recycled content rate, the data indicates that 75% of all newsprint purchased by these publishers in 2000 contained recycled content. For more information, contact Lynn Rubinstein at NERC, or Liz Wooten at the Newspaper Association of America.
January 2003Northeast
Newspaper Publishers' Agreement - Progress Report
Several changes occurred in the newspaper industry over the past year, and these changes are reflected in the figures; most notably, a 39% decrease in metric tons of newsprint purchased. It dropped from 2,520,967 tons in 2000 to 1,529,783 tons in 2001. To put this into historical perspective in 1996 - according to the Newspaper Association of America, consumption of newsprint by daily newspaper publishers in the Northeast totaled 2 million tons. Overall, we found that the publishers remain firmly committed to the intention of the Newspaper Publishers' Agreement, and to the use of recycled content in newsprint. The Northeast Newspaper Publishers' Agreement has been signed by publishers representing more than 80% of the total newsprint consumption in the Northeast. It is a commitment to achieving an average recycled content rate of 27%. The full Newspaper Publishers Agreement Task Force report, which describes the project background, is, available on the NERC web site. The Publishers who have committed to the recycled content goal and annual reporting are:
For more information, contact Lynn Rubinstein at NERC, or Paul Boyle at the Newspaper Association of America. February 2004The second year of monitoring for the Northeast Newspaper Publishers' Agreement has just been completed. Publishers reported on the total amount of newsprint paper consumed and the total amount of recycled newsprint fiber contained in that newsprint paper for calendar 2002. The 2002 figures can be compared to those for 2001 and to those in the benchmark year, 1997 (as described in the Newspaper Publishers Agreement Task Force Report). At that time newspaper publishers in the region were using newsprint containing an average of 27% recycled newsprint fiber content. In 2001, they were using newsprint containing an average of 28.8% recycled newsprint fiber. In 2002, they were using an average of 28.4%. Therefore we are pleased to report that even though the average percent recycled newsprint fiber dropped ever so slightly, the Northeast Newspaper Publishers not only met their commitment of 27% recycled newsprint fiber usage, once again they actually slightly exceeded it.
Many changes have occurred in the newspaper industry over the past several years, and these changes are reflected in the figures; most notably, a significant decrease in the metric tons of newsprint purchased. (There was a decrease in tons of newsprint used of 46% between 2000 and 2002, and a 10% decrease 2001 - 2002.) This can be attributable to a several factors including the economy, decreased advertising, and the light-weighting of newsprint (smaller pages, smaller print, smaller margins, lighter weight paper, etc.) According to the terms of the Agreement, NERC will collect data for one more year (calendar 2003) and then the Agreement will be re-evaluated by the signatories to determine if it has been successful in achieving its goals, and if not, how it should be adjusted.
December 2004Northeast Newspaper Publishers Update - 2003 Data & Final Year of Current Agreement
With the reporting of the calendar year 2003 data (see below) that three-year mark has been met and technically the agreement has sunsetted. The NERC Board has been working with the Newspaper Association of America (NAA), our major partner in this venture, to negotiate a continuation of the Agreement. The NAA has proposed that the Agreement be renewed in perpetuity with a change relative to data collection. The NERC Board discussed the NAA proposal at its Board Meeting in October. The Board has responded to the NAA and there will be a joint conference call of the NERC Board and NAA leadership on December 1st to discuss the matter in more detail. For more information, contact Lynn Rubinstein. Thus, depending on the outcome of the discussions with the NAA and newspaper publishers of the region, the Calendar 2003 data may be the last data collected and reported on the total tons of newsprint purchased in the region, the tons of recycled newsprint fiber and the percent of recycled fiber content. The 2003 data showed a disappointing decline in the average recycled content while seeing a significant increase in the overall tonnage of newsprint. 1 That threshold was reached in the fall of 2001.
In the January Email Bulletin we will report on the results of the joint conference call, an analysis of why the significant shift in figures for calendar year 2003 and an overall assessment of the impact of the Agreement by the industry.
March 2005Northeast Newspaper Publishers Agreement - Alive & Growing! In late fall 2004 the NERC Board, NAA management and member newspapers in the Northeast considered the question of the Agreement, whether it had been effective, and how best to move forward. All parties strongly felt that the Agreement had been a noteworthy achievement and a true success. This multi-stakeholder voluntary collaboration addressing recycling market development sets an example and demonstrates industry-wide leadership even in the face of challenging and changing market conditions. Over the course of the past three years, NERC has been responsible for collecting the data from the publishers and reporting on the results. The success of this process has motivated NAA not only to assume this annual data collection component of the Agreement, but to make its scope national. Beginning in 2005, the NAA will collect and report on regional and national recycled content usage statistics to NERC. This will be accomplished through a modification of its annual industry survey which went out to newspapers in February 05. As such, the NAA expects to be able to report the 2004 usage figures in early summer 2005. This will result in an expanded and timelier reporting of data than the data collection process originally implemented. The newspapers that are signatories to the Agreement are:
February 2006Northeast Newspaper Publishers' Agreement - Progress Report Calendar 2004 - Recycled Content Up The Fall of 2004 marked the third year anniversary of the Northeast Newspaper Publishers' Agreement. At that time, the Agreement and its impacts were reviewed. It was agreed by all parties that it had been a success; achieving its goals of a commitment to increase usage of recycled content newsprint in the region and achieving a minimum recycled content of 27%. The newspaper publishers expressed their ongoing commitment to the Agreement and its goals. At that time, the NAA stepped forward with the offer to leverage its existing industry data collection efforts to collect the information necessary for monitoring the progress of the Northeast Newspaper Publishers' Agreement. NAA's approach to data collection was to include recycling questions with its annual newsprint consumption survey. The survey process closely followed NERC's previous efforts. The newsprint consumption survey was distributed to over 200 newspapers with various sizes of circulation. The top circulation newspapers were included, which meant that NAA received the results from over 70% of the population and then extrapolated the balance based on regional and circulation figures. In its survey, NAA asked for the total metric tons of newsprint used; the metric tons of recycled newsprint fiber used; and the percentage of recycled fiber in the newsprint. After collecting the data, the statistics were compiled by NAA's Business Analysis Department and were reviewed internally as well as externally.
Going forward, NAA plans to refine its survey process, perhaps making it an electronic survey, and hopes to begin collecting 2005 data in the spring of 2006. For more information, please contact Katherene M. Elsen, Director/Government Affairs, Newspaper Association of America.
April 2007Northeast Newspaper Publishers' Agreement - Progress Report Calendar 2005 – Best Year Yet! Another year of monitoring for the Northeast Newspaper Publishers' Agreement has been completed. The data collection was handled by the Newspaper Association of America (NAA). The Northeast Newspaper Publishers' Agreement, which has been in place since the fall of 2001, establishes a goal increasing usage of recycled content newsprint in the region and achieving a minimum recycled content of 27%. To collect the data, NAA asked its approximately 900 newspapers with various sizes of circulation, including those who provide data on a regular basis for the newsprint consumption survey, to provide information for the survey. Nationally, NAA received 122 responses; a quarter of those responses (31) from the Northeast. This represents a 24% increase in the number of responses received as compared to last year. There are 12 newspaper publishers that are signatories to the Newspaper Publishers’ Agreement, and one statewide newspaper publishers association. In its survey, NAA asked for the total metric tons of newsprint used; the metric tons of recycled newsprint fiber used; and the percentage of recycled fiber in the newsprint. After collecting the data, the statistics were compiled by NAA's Business Analysis Department and were reviewed internally as well as externally.
The 7.5% decrease in the amount of newsprint purchased compared to the 2% increase in the tons with recycled fiber accounts for the overall increase in recycled fiber content. There are 13 original signatories to the Northeast Newspaper Publishers’ Agreement: · Bangor Daily News · Dow-Jones · Gannett · Hartford Courant · Journal Register · Massachusetts Newspaper Publishers Association · Media News · New York Times · North Jersey Media Group · Providence Newspapers – Belo · Star Ledger · Syracuse Newspapers · Tribune In another development, NAA and NERC have decided that due to the stability of the data reported over the past five years, that progress reports on the Newspaper Publishers’ Agreement will switch from annual to biennial. The next report will be for calendar year 2007. For more information, please contact Katherene Mason, Vice President Government Affairs, Newspaper Association of America.
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