Made in Canada: Potter on 100% recycled paper

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Kudos for Canadian publisher
Raincoast hasn't disclosed its run, but the 2003 "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix" was much more modest at 930,000 books.

Markets Initiative did an "eco-audit" on Raincoast's plans for the new book and estimates that the publisher will save 28,221 trees by using 100 percent recycled paper.

The group also estimates that Raincoast doesn't pay more than a 5 percent premium for the paper.

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But the Association of American Publishers isn't so sure that would be the case in the United States. It has created a task force to study the costs, availability and quality of 100 percent recycled paper.

Kathryn Blough, an association staffer who's on the task force, said her informal conversations suggest that “for high-volume purchasers the price difference is significantly greater than 5 percent.”

Recycled versus virgin
Mike McMahon, head of book paper sales at Midland Paper in New York City, said the premium can be "20 percent or more."

Virgin paper is cheaper, he said, because "the big mills have state-of-the-art virgin pulp mills; a good part of that efficiency is passed along to the big customers in the way of price."

On the other hand, recycled pulp, also called fiber, is seeing demand that "is larger than the available supply; thus it can be very expensive to buy," McMahon said. "Last year China, for example, bid up the price of this fiber because they are a fiber-starved country with a booming demand."

Moreover, he said, "the entire process of collecting and de-inking paper waste is labor intensive and expensive," and "printing and writing papers are a very poor choice to use as recycled fiber."

"Proper forest management is the real issue," McMahon said, "not diverting recycled fiber from efficient end uses to inefficient ones to promote supposed green causes."

Whomping Willow's stamp of approval
Rowling stands firmly with the conservationists. Raincoast Books' policy caught her attention when "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix" went to press in 2003, and she rewarded the publisher with a special preface in the Canadian edition of the book.

"The forest at Hogwarts is home to magical creatures like unicorns and centaurs," Rowling wrote. "Because the Canadian editions are printed on Ancient Forest Friendly paper, the Harry Potter books are helping to save magnificent forests in the Muggle world, the home of magical animals such as orangutans, wolves and bears."

Rowling closed with a warning from her most famous rooted character: "It is a good idea to respect ancient trees, especially if they have a temper like the Whomping Willow.”

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