Published Quarterly | Volume 7 | December 2009
Green Penguin
Investing in green initiatives continued to be priority for Penguin throughout 2009. Here is a round-up of some of Penguin's green programs in 2009 which helped to reduce Penguin's impact on the environment.
The entire company got behind the Penguin Global Walk on the 5th of June, World Environment Day. Starting in Auckland and ending in Toronto, 1,000 walkers around the world tackled routes that varied from a half marathon route through London's Royal parks to a route that encompassed part of the Great Wall of China. The Walk raised £56,105 globally, doubling the amount raised in last year's UK effort. This money will enable just over 55,000 trees to be planted across the world.
Australia
- All local Penguin Australia titles printed at McPherson Printing Group will now be printed on FSC or PEFC papers. On the local publishing program (which also includes full colour illustrated books) the target is for 75% of all books published to be printed on FSC stocks.
- Penguin's involvement in the Australian Mobile Telecommunications' Mobile Muster program has resulted in 19kgs of mobile phones, blackberry's and chargers being safely recycled during the year — saving vast quantities of cadmium and lead from ending up in landfill.
- The Virtual infrastructure "virtualization" work our IT team has done has helped us save $46,000 in electricity and reduce our carbon dioxide levels from 590 tonnes to 143 tonnes during the course of the last 12 month.
Penguin Canada
- An Earth Day Community Clean-Up event saw 30 employees participate in a clean up of four local parks and green spaces.
- A Clean Air Commute Week event encouraged employees to find green-commute alternatives for a chance to win prizes. The event piggy-backed on a locally run event plus we offered our own additional prizes. Sixty-three employees participated in the event.
- An office paper reduction campaign that communicated paper conservation tips for all employees. Tips included taking advantage of scanning/electronic storage alternatives and duplex printing that had been enabled and made accessible to all staff. Other conservation tips were communicated and strategically promoted in posters throughout all office facilities.
- There are ongoing changes in Penguin Canada cafeterias to eliminate and/or reduce Styrofoam/paper/plastics.
DK
- Rough Guides 2009 publishing took on a distinct eco-feel with Clean Breaks and The Rough Guide to Green Living, both published on FSC-approved paper.
- In DK there have been new co-edition partners for the Made With Care series this year, and in addition we trialled the supply chain of FSC material for the travel guides, DK Eyewitness travel guides and Rough Guides and many of these were on FSC paper even though they were not labelled as such. The New Self Sufficiency Guide that publishes in 2010 will also be using FSC paper.
Penguin India
- By refurbishing Penguin India's offices, the building now has access to more natural light, which has led to a reduction of 20% in consumption of electricity as compared to last year.
- Penguin Books India has changed its policy of having returns from bookshops and distributors shipped back to its warehouse. The new system in place ensures that returns are pulped and recycled at the distributor's end, thereby eliminating the carbon emissions that would have been caused by trucking them back to Delhi.
Penguin South Africa
- Penguin SA are the proud parents of John and Marjorie, two penguins that have been adopted via SANCCOB (Southern African Foundation for the Conservation of Coastal Birds). Both penguins were abandoned by their parents and once they are rehabilitated, they will be released back into the ocean.
- On the 5th of June 2009, 50 Penguin SA staff members walked around the Johannesburg Zoo as part of the Penguin Walk. A total of 9870.00 ZAR was raised for Food & Trees for Africa. The money was used to buy and donate 142 trees to the following schools, with very positive impacts:
- Dipati Primary School (North West) — 20 trees (the trees will provide shade and greenery and have been incorporated into their science curriculum)
- Doasho High School (Limpopo) — 25 trees (school with 985 learners — 685 are orphans or vulnerable children — the trees planted will provide a barrier between the community and the school)
- Matswathaka School (Free State) — 25 trees (they provide food for 60 orphans and vulnerable children who attend the school)
- Ratanang Primary School (Northern Cape) — 20 fruit trees (they have extremely hot summers and icy winds in winters so trees will provide shade for summer and windbreakers for winter and fruit for the children)
- Amakhumbeni Farmer Community Centre (Eastern Cape) — 20 trees (the trees will make a difference to their surroundings as before it was just full of dust)
- Umthawelanga Senior Secondary School (Eastern Cape) — 32 trees (the trees will now provide shade and greenery in their school)
Penguin UK
- We are continuing to increase the amount of FSC paper that we use across Penguin Group UK. In 2008, 23% of the paper we used was FSC, and this year we are on target for 30%+ of our paper to be FSC certified.
- In Penguin the title Waste; Uncovering the Global Food Scandal (published July 09) printed on a 100% post consumer waste paper, as did A Book About Innocent (published April this year).
- In addition to increasing our use of FSC paper, we are also working to ensure that the non-certified paper we use comes from responsible sources. Using an industry grading system called PREPS (of which Penguin was a founding member), we are working with suppliers to increase our use of papers rated at Grade 3 and above.
- Penguin UK, as part of Pearson, was awarded ISO 14001 certification in 2009.
- 81% of our manufacturing suppliers are now ISO 14001 certified. Those that don't yet have it have adopted the principles and standards of ISO 14001 and have a timetable in place to help them achieve ISO 14001. ISO 14001 is an internationally accepted standard that sets out how an organisation can go about putting in place an effective Environmental Management System (EMS).
Penguin UK Children's
- Peter Rabbit Naturally Better continues to be a Green hit with books and product selling very well in the US. The range of toiletries from Econatura are proving incredibly popular having been supported by a high profile promotion in Wholefoods in March 2009.
- The Peter Rabbit Organics food range from Peter Rabbit Naturally Better has now launched in the US and the drinks are available in all kids' meals on Virgin Atlantic flights leaving from the UK.
- To coincide with World Environment Day in June, we joined up with the UK's second largest children's nursery chain, Asquith, to create a campaign to promote gardening, outdoor play and healthy eating. With Peter Rabbit as their 'green ambassador' we provided over 100 nurseries with gardening kits and packets of vegetable and sunflower seeds to encourage the children to get involved. Asquith held a nationwide competition for the nurseries to create art projects and record all their activities relating to gardening and what they had learned, with the winning nursery receiving a visit from Peter Rabbit and his puppet show.
Penguin Group (USA)
- Penguin Group (USA), in conjunction with its vendors, made a concerted effort to seek out sustainably sourced paper throughout 2009. Each of the company's principal vendors has had all of their paper custody certified by the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC).
- In July, Penguin Classics and the Union of Concerned Scientists selected essays and photos from various writers, artists, activists, and students from across the U.S. to illustrate the effects of global warming in a new book called Thoreau's Legacy: American Stories About Global Warming — available as an interactive online book, an eBook, and a limited edition hardcover.
- In October, Pearson and Penguin co-sponsored an event with the Girl Scout Council of America to promote sustainability among the girls, including a booth at the event with books and other educational materials.
- PGI designed reusable water bottles with the Penguin logo to be sold online and in the employee store at Penguin Group (USA)'s 375 Hudson Street offices.
- PGI's Editorial Workflow process has continued to reduce paper and toner usage in the office, reducing both costs and energy emissions. This has been particularly significant in the cover process.