Greening the Glossies

The Magazine Publishers of America (MPA) recently launched a campaign to educate readers about the necessity and ease of recycling all magazines.

The MPA is encouraging magazine publishers to run public service ads with such slogans as “Give Old Magazines a New Life” and “Go the Extra Mile, Recycle Your Pile.” It is also asking publishers to commit to placing the “Please Recycle This Magazine” logo in each issue of their magazine.

“Our ‘Please Recycle’ campaign continues to grow as publishers embrace and promote the logos and ads in their magazines,” according to MPA CEO and President Nina Link. “The new ads promote personal responsibility and encourage our readers to recycle their magazines after enjoying them.”

Recycled Magazines can be made into a variety of paper products including:

• Newsprint
• Tissuepaper
• Boxboard
• Writing and printing paper

Magazines fall under the print paper category, which includes newspapers, catalogs and magazines. Because these products tend to be inkier —magazines and catalogs especially— they undergo a different recycling process, and are sometimes collected separately from office and newspaper.

According to the MPA, “Only about 20 percent of magazines are recycled from the home, even though at least two-thirds of the population has access to magazine recycling in their community.”

The MPA is eager to improve this statistic, and its new ads direct readers to Earth911.com to help locate nearby magazine recycling facilities.