Regional Newspaper Publishers’ Buy Recycled Policy

RESOLUTION

Adopted October 22, 1998

The Northeast Recycling Council (NERC), a coalition of recycling officials from the ten Northeast states, finds that the long term success of recycling as a materials policy depends upon businesses buying recycled content products.

Consistent with this finding, many NERC states adopted old newspaper recycling policies and programs during the late 1980's and early 1990's designed to stimulate consumer demand for recycled newsprint and investment in recycling capacity by North American newsprint manufacturers.

NERC further finds that these policies and programs have been successful.

NERC believes a furtherance of the commitments by newspaper publishers in the region to buy recycled content newsprint will help to maintain the gains in newspaper recycling achieved to date. Further, such publisher commitments will help to drive future investment, retirement, and capacity usage decisions which favor recycled newsprint production over virgin by North American newsprint manufacturers.

Finally, NERC finds that the objectives behind the original old newspaper policies and programs may be better served if the states and publishers in the region were acting in concert to promote uniformity and consistency in terms of publishers stated preferences for recycled content newsprint.

NERC believes that by acting in concert, the strongest possible market signal will be sent to newsprint manufacturers about the preferences of their customers and their need to continue investing in recycling capacity where it is technically and economically feasible.

In light of the above findings, the Northeast Recycling Council hereby resolves that it is in the public interest to support the recommendations of the Northeast Newspaper Recycling Task Force. NERC’s support is contingent upon a buy recycled newsprint resolution consistent with that contained in the Task Force’s 1998 report (Adobe Acrobat format) being endorsed by a significant number of newspaper publishers. For purposes of this NERC resolution, a significant number shall mean publishers who represent at least eighty percent of the newsprint consumption by daily newspapers in the region.

NERC further resolves to work in cooperation with those newspaper publishers to evaluate the effectiveness of, and if deemed necessary amend, the buy recycled newsprint resolution after three years to determine the impacts of the resolution on the investment decisions of newsprint manufacturers, and on the economic sustainability of old newspaper recycling in the Northeast.