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Tony Juniper, director of Friends of the Earth, recently described oureditorial contribution to environmental awareness as follows: “It isdifficult to overestimate the impact of the Guardian and Observer. TheGuardian is certainly considered as the voice of progressive and soundenvironmental thinking both in the UK and in Europe. The feedback weget from the US is that its influence is growing there too through theGuardian’s websites. It is the industry journal for environmental groups,as people can rely on its coverage of the issues that matter most.

“As a company, as opposed to a newspaper, it does not have a leadershiprole yet, but no media company does. The most important thing is for theGuardian to continue playing its absolutely vital role in sustaining theenvironmental debate, but it is also important to put sustainability intopractice. Clearly the two biggest areas where it can have an impact are itspaper purchasing and energy use.”

The Guardian has been the leading newspaper in environmentalreporting for many years, and this has been reflected in a number ofindustry awards, the latest being James Meek winning the Reuters-IUCNMedia Award for Environmental Reporting in December 2002.

We are widely read by environment groups and development agencies,and have carried a number of specialist supplements in this area. Ourhome, foreign and city news pages place great emphasis onenvironmental reporting, which is strongly linked with our science andmedical coverage. Editorials on world trade, debt relief, economicdevelopment for Africa all have environment at their root.

Paul Brown, the Guardian’s environment correspondent, says: “We takevery seriously the view of scientists that the future of the planet is injeopardy. Human activity is using up natural resources too fast, we aredestroying our own life support system.”

For this reason, we campaign strenuously for individuals, companiesand governments to take action and act more responsibly. The areas onwhich the Guardian places the most emphasis in the UK are:

• Renewable energy — the need for much more of it — and lack ofgovernment action until very recently.• Energy efficiency — in household and transport but including theneed for business to save energy and money by cutting consumption.• Water conservation — how much is needlessly wasted and how thisleads to the death of rivers through over-abstraction.• Excessive waste — lack of recycling, reuse of paper and plastics. Thenew directives on disposal of fridges, cars and electrical goods, largelybeing ignored by businesses.• Disease spread through inadequate and outdated air conditioningsystems.• Unthinking expansion of airports with cheap flights which do notreflect true cost to the environment and people in the flight path.• Plus: climate change, chemical pollution, endocrine disrupters,wasteful transport policies … switching from rail to road to save moneywhich further damages the environment.As a media organisation, we therefore play an important role in the

environmental debate by informing domestic and international readersand web users of what is happening in the world and in suggesting

ENVIRONMENT“The most importantthing is for the Guardianto continue playing its absolutely vital role in sustaining the environmental debate,but it is also important to put sustainability into practice”Tony Juniper, director of Friends of the Earth

Excessive waste to landfill and lack of recycling isa key focus for our environmental reporting

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options for change. But we also have a responsibility as a business toensure that we are making our own contribution in this arena.

In terms of our main raw material, newsprint, which accounts fornearly a fifth of GNL’s entire costbase, we have an excellent track record.But while GNL’s offices recently passed an environmental health audit,there are areas of the business where we have been laggards and aconcentrated effort is now being made to ensure we close that gap.

A survey of our current operations, including energy use and wastemanagement, has been performed with the support of the environmentalconsultancy Golder Associates.

Our employee opinion survey showed there is some concern within theorganisation about our performance in this area. A third of staff eitherdisagreed, or disagreed strongly, that “GNL as an organisation haseffective environmental practices”.

NEWSPRINTIn 2002, GNL used 109,273 tonnes of newsprint, which was slightly belowthe amount bought in each of the two previous years. Paper for GNL isbought by Paper Purchase & Management Ltd, a joint venture companysupplying all newsprint for the Guardian Media Group and the Telegraph.Recycled paper made up 76% of the raw material for newsprint used bythe Guardian, Observer and other GMG regional and local newspapers.This is well above the industry average of 65.1%. It is also far better thanthe voluntary agreement between the government and the NewspaperPublishers Association, which called for 70% recycled content by the endof 2006.

The company is likely to further increase its recycled content next yearwhen one of our major UK suppliers, Shotton, moves to 100% recycledproduction. Currently 40% of its production is virgin newsprint.

There are a few constraints on our use of recycled paper. In order toachieve its glossy finish, Guardian Weekend magazine uses gravureprinting for which only virgin paper can be used. Also, some of thenewspapers’ smaller supplements, such as Life, can use only virgin paperbecause the presses cannot handle low pagination products usingrecycled content, which is too flimsy.

In addition, paper cannot be recycled indefinitely — fibres wear out bybecoming smaller and lose their capacity to bind with other fibres to forma strong paper. The industry therefore needs a constant flow of freshfibres from the forests to maintain the product quality.

Almost all virgin wood used for mechanical pulping in newsprintcomes from forest thinning and sawmill waste. Some of our suppliers dobleach to improve the brightness of their newsprint using hydrogenperoxide, but none uses more toxic chlorine. A very large percentage ofthe paper we use also goes back to be recycled, so relatively little carbon isreleased during the process.

ENVIRONMENT

Paul Brown: “We take very seriously the view ofscientists that the future of the planet is in jeopardy”

Recycled paper made up76% of the raw materialfor newsprint. This is well above the industry average of 65.1%

TARGET Produce an environmental strategy.

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Around a tenth of newsprint goes to waste at our print sites because itcan take some time for the quality of the printing to reach an acceptablelevel. All of this goes back to recycling plants. The same is true of the 20%of papers that are returned to wholesalers in the form of unsold copies. Ofthe papers that our customers purchase, our recent independent surveyof 1,500 readers found that 89% of Guardian customers recycled theirpaper, while 85% of Observer readers do likewise. If we were to extrapolatethat figure for our entire readership, it would suggest that more than 92%of our total tonnage of paper is reused (see table below left).

The survey also showed that around two-thirds of readers of both theGuardian and Observer were not concerned about the size of the paperfrom an environmental perspective.

Wastage at the print sites has traditionally been a big problem andrecently GNL has agreed targets for our print site suppliers. Any printedwaste from print sites is collected for recycling at UK and overseas mills.

There’s an old saying that today’s newspaper is tomorrow’s fish andchip paper. In fact our print sites sell end-of-roll paper to MyddletonWaste Paper, which distributes it nationally to fish and chip shops.

The Guardian has over the past year or so campaigned vigorouslyagainst the excessive use of plastic bags, but nonetheless like othernewspapers we do use plastic polybagging for some editions of theGuardian’s Saturday multi-section paper as well as the Observer. WhileGNL’s circulation department is investigating alternatives, it hasestimated that the papers would lose around 10% of circulation onSaturdays and Sundays if polybagging were abandoned. Newspapershave one of the shortest shelf-lives of any product. If GNL were forced torely on the manual insertion of all sections, there would be delays ingetting the papers out for sale, particularly in supermarkets, which areincreasingly expecting papers to arrive ready for sale. Manual insertion ofsections is also open to high levels of error.

OFFICESThe other major area of operations which GNL has a large measure ofcontrol over is our office buildings. Around 900 staff are based in ourheadquarters building at 119 Farringdon Road, London. We also own theNewsroom visitor centre opposite and rent four satellite offices, whichhouse around 400 staff.

Our headquarters building, which was built in the early 1960s, is old-fashioned and environmentally inefficient. GNL did not initially occupythe whole building, which meant that when we did eventually take overall six floors there were a number of different heating and cooling systemsin operation which were never co-ordinated. In addition, it should benoted that unlike a typical office, some areas of the building are in useround the clock.

Our total electricity consumption for our main building last year was5,228,080kWh. Using the Carbon Trust’s latest energy benchmarking tool,this means that we use 781kWh of electricity per square metre, comparedwith 265kWh/m2 for a typical office building and 153kWh/m2, which is the

ENVIRONMENT

Our headquarters building, which was built in the early 1960s, is old-fashioned and environmentally inefficient

End of roll paper from our printsites is soldexclusively to Myddleton Waste Paper who sell itfor wrapping up fish and chips

Guardian and Observer carbon loop (tonnes)

Total paper used 109,273Recycled print site wasteage 10,900Recycled unsold returns 19,700Reader recycling 70,300Total recycling 100,900

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good practice target. The saving between our current costs and good practiceis approximately 80%, which would equate to £120,000 a year.

With regard to carbon dioxide emissions, our building produces 418kg of CO2

per square metre compared with an average of 166kg/m2 and good practice of95kg/m2. This equates to total carbon emissions of 3,720 tonnes a year.

We are also inefficient in our use of water, using a total of 10,268m3 peryear. A good practice office building should use no more than 7,700 litresof water per person per year but at GNL’s main office the figure is 11,400litres per person. It should be noted, however, that although this figure isbased on 900 employees working at 119 Farringdon Road, many of ourstaff from satellite buildings also use its facilities, which include showersand the restaurant. If we were to reach best practice, it would save thecompany up to £4,000 per year.

REFURBISHMENTTrying to update the office has proved difficult because there has been nolocal alternative accommodation to move large numbers of staff intowhile refurbishment takes place. The quality of the office space is a worryfor staff. While 42% are happy with the physical working conditions, athird have expressed concerns.

But a strategy is now in place to end the current gridlock. GNL is taking alease on a new office building being developed a few metres from the mainbuilding. Once this is ready to occupy, GNL will move staff from one floor ata time into the new site so that 119 Farringdon Road can be completelyrefurbished. A key concern during this works schedule will be to make thebuilding energy efficient as well as using sustainable materials. A priority isalso to ensure proper disabled access.

In the meantime, the following actions can be taken:

ENVIRONMENT

A good practice officebuilding should use no more than 7,700 litres of water per person per year but at GNL’s main office the figure is 11,400 litres

TARGET GNL has applied to the Carbon Trust for a consultant to audit ouroffices and offer recommendations for cutting energy use, both in the short termand longer term as part of our accommodation strategy.

TARGET Review timing settings on urinal system from 24 hours currently set,to relate to departmental office hours.

TARGET The procurement department is investigating switching to renewableenergy as our various fossil fuel contracts come up for renewal. We are alsolooking into the possibility of introducing solar panels on to our roof, although current technology means that this would only make a small dent in our current usage.

TARGET A number of items of plant are reaching the end of their life cycle thuspresenting an opportunity for a replacement programme to reflect highenvironmental standards.The procurement department is investigating

switching to renewable energy

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VISITOR AND EDUCATION CENTREAn example of GNL’s commitment to environmental issues in new officedevelopments is the £4.5m development of our visitor and educationcentre, the Newsroom, which opened to the public in June 2002. The late19th century warehouse opposite our main office was in a very poor stateof repair when bought. The Newsroom combines a number of differentapproaches to problems of how to accommodate modern usage totraditional building while also being aware of environmental concerns.Vaults for preservation of archival material, including photographs, arefully air conditioned and dehumidified 24 hours a day. The main publicareas are air conditioned but most of the rest of the building is comfortcooled except for cellular offices inside the main facade where noise andpollution make the opening of windows impossible as a means ofproviding ventilation. All offices treated in this way are controlledmanually by individual controls. Other areas of the building where naturalventilation is possible are not air conditioned at all. All natural materialswere supplied from renewable sources.

RECYCLING, WASTE DISPOSAL & PAPER USAGEWe have also looked at the other areas of our operations to see where wecan make improvements. As part of our environmental audit, we haveinstalled 150 recycling bins in all departments of GNL.

In addition to improving our disposal of paper, we are also seeking toreduce the amount of paper we use in the first place. Last year the companybought 23,000 reams of laser/photocopying paper at a cost of almost£50,000. This means that each employee used on average 8,441 sheets ofpaper. Virtually all of this was virgin paper, although it did carry the Nordicenvironmental label, which means it came from sustainable sources.

We are also improving the recycling of other materials in the building.

ENVIRONMENT

In addition to improvingour disposal of paper, we are also seeking toreduce the amount ofpaper we use in the first place

The Newsroom: In its refurbishment, all naturalmaterials were supplied from renewable sources

TARGET Investigate options for purchasing recycled office paper andstationery.

TARGET Reduce paper usage by setting printers and photocopiers to doublesided printing. Reduce the number of fax machines appropriate to need andinvestigate electronic fax software as an alternative.

TARGET Run a campaign to encourage staff to change their behaviourregarding paper usage, paper reuse and recycling.

TARGET Reduce magazine and paper subscriptions. This currently costs thecompany £218,000 per year.

TARGET In 2002, nearly 300,000 copies of the Guardian and Observer weredelivered to our main office for use by staff. Aim to reduce this number.

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We give all old computer equipment above a certain specification to Toolsfor Schools, a charity we co-founded which refurbishes computers for useby schools. Old mobile phones and printer and photocopier cartridges arerecycled to raise money for ChildLine.

Fluorescent light tubes, which contain mercury, are now taken away forspecial disposal. All halon gas has been removed from GNL and replacedwith argonite in computer rooms due to changes in legislation. However,the small number of obsolete computer terminals and keyboards arecurrently disposed of in general skips.

At present we generate on average 11 tonnes of general waste per week,which goes into a compactor and is then disposed of by CD WasteManagement. While the company says it recycles a third of this, the rest goesstraight to landfill. An audit of our waste was carried out in June 2003, whichshowed that a lot of materials which could be recycled get thrown away.Thirty black sacks were chosen at random. The following was found: 10 bagsworth of paper, two bags of glass, one bag of cans, one bag of plastic cups, oneblue barrow of cardboard.

CONTRACT SERVICESOur restaurant is managed by Charlton House Catering who have their

own environmental policy. Changes have been made over the past year,including using 100% Fairtrade coffee in the restaurant and otherproducts where possible. Charlton uses some organic produce and avoidsGM ingredients.

All our cleaning services are contracted out to RCS, which has its ownenvironmental policy. Their everyday cleaning products are dispensedthrough pump sprays rather then aerosols. When aerosol cans are used,

ENVIRONMENT

We generate 11 tonnes ofgeneral waste per week.While a third of this isrecycled, the rest goesstraight to landfill

TARGET GNL is currently testing remanufactured toner cartridges for itsprinters and will switch supplies if the quality meets specifications (this willbring a cost saving of 50%).

TARGET The procurement department to take environmental considerations moreseriously and incorporate this into its supplier strategy.

TARGET IT to ensure special disposal of all computer kit, which falls below theTools for Schools minimum specifications

TARGET Devise a comprehensive recycling strategy to reduce the amount ofunnecessary waste to landfill.

TARGET GNL currently uses nearly 16,000 plastic cups a month for waterdispensers, which all go to landfill. We aim to pilot the use of a reusablealternative in a few departments with a view to rolling out the scheme company-wide.

Pupils at St Joseph's school, London, usingrefurbished computers donated from Tools ForSchools, a charity co-founded by GNL

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they are CFC free. All cleaning products used in GNL offices arebiodegradable except for its toilet cleaner which contains phosphoric acidin order to remove limescale.

TRANSPORTGNL has in the past year introduced a new, more environmentally friendlycar policy. No company cars are being given to new staff, unless they areessential users, and instead they are being offered a cash alternative.

In an attempt to reduce the company’s existing fleet of cars, staff are beingoffered the chance to hand their cars back and take a cash settlement, andthose with car parking passes are being offered an annual six-zone publictransport pass instead. All staff can also apply for an annual season ticket loan.

As a result of these actions, the number of GNL’s company cars hasfallen from more than 150 cars two years ago to 120 in June 2003. Of theseonly 10% use diesel, while the remaining are unleaded.

GNL has also been encouraging more bike use by extending the size ofthe secured storage facilities at our main office. There are 213 members ofstaff who have access to the bike sheds on their electronic security card.The use per day in April 2003 was on average 92 people, although thisfigure is higher during the summer.

A group of employees has set up a cycling pressure group to push forbetter facilities. They looked at best practice among other firms and thencompared it to GNL’s provision :

Safe, secure and covered cycle parking Fair

Lockers None

Changing/drying facilities and showers Fair

Publicising to staff of facilities that are available None

Mileage allowance None

Loans and discounts for bicycle purchase None

Relaxed dress code and flexible working hours Good

Affiliation and liaison with local groups and council officers None

Provision of maps of local cycle routes None

Provision of cyclists’ “spares box” (pump, spanner, etc) Good

Arranging discounts at local cycle shop Good

Cycle maintenance workshops None

Apart from cars, our main source of pollution from transport is airtravel by our staff. Last year the company spent £520,000 on flights. Ourtravel agent is currently unable to assess how many miles this equates to.

ENVIRONMENT

There are 213 membersof staff who have accessto the bike sheds ontheir electronic securitycard. The use per day in April 2003 was onaverage 92 people

TARGET GNL will be looking at further improving facilities for cyclists in thecurrent financial year.

TARGET To exclusively supply Fairtrade tea and coffee to departments.

TARGET Further investigation into reducing the use of non-recyclable products such aspolystyrene takeaway food containers and cups.

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MAJOR SUPPLIERS: PRINTERSWe sent questionnaires to the printing plants that produce our variousproducts. We are satisfied that they comply with current environmentallegislation and are taking an active part in reducing their emissions. Nonehas been subject to enforcement action from regulatory authorities.

The production of the newspapers does not involve the use of highlytoxic chemicals or processes. The papers are printed using cold set weboffset, which is effectively paper, water, ink and electricity. The inks thatare used contain less than 1% volatile organic content. Electricity usage ishigh. West Ferry Printers, which produces two-thirds of all our papers,uses approximately 8.25 million kWh of electricity in their production.Printing Guardian Weekend magazine uses approximately 2.5 millionkWh of electricity, while all the Observer magazines OM, OTV, OSM andOFM use around 3.57 million kWh.

Based on these figures, the estimated emissions from all our productionis around 10,100 tonnes of carbon dioxide annually, which equates to anaverage of 3.9kg of carbon for every reader. This does not includeemissions from natural gas, which we were unable to calculate this year.

The Guardian and Observer are printed at two sites in the UK: WestFerry in London and Trafford Park Printers in Manchester. TPP is half-owned by GMG.

The Guardian’s Weekend magazine is the only GNL product to use themore toxic gravure printing process. It requires inks that have a lowviscosity. This in general means that the inks contain high levels of solventand as such have an impact on the atmosphere. Weekend magazine isprinted by Polestar Purnell, which carries out an environmental auditevery two years. The company is a member of the BPIF/PPAenvironmental audit scheme. Members of staff are encouraged tocomment on ways to improve environmental performance at bi-monthlymeetings. Polestar has objectives and targets to improve the extractionand recovery of chemicals used in the production process and is currentlyreviewing the upgrading of its prepress operation, which would greatlyreduce water consumption and eliminate the generation of trade effluent.

MAJOR SUPPLIERS: TRANSPORTTNT Newsfast/Network Logistics delivers all GNL newspaper products.Its vehicles currently travel 1.7 million miles per month. The Guardianaccounts for 2% of its total business.

TNT says it is “constantly trying to find methods of reducing vehicleemissions, reducing the amount of fuel used, reducing the wastage oftyres and reducing the number of vehicle movements necessary to satisfythe needs of the customer”.

By consolidating the deliveries for six titles — the Guardian, Express,Telegraph, Financial Times, Star and Sport — there has been a significantreduction in fleet usage against the previous industry norm of solodistribution of titles. By operating a 24-hour cycle, TNT also limits theempty running of vehicles, which results in a reduction in fuel usage, roadcongestion and vehicle emissions.

ENVIRONMENT

The production of thenewspapers does notinvolve the use of highlytoxic chemicals orprocesses. The papers are printed using cold set web offset, which iseffectively water and ink

Pages of the Guardian on the presses at WestFerry Printers

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Fuel usage is monitored on a weekly/rolling basis. The company iscurrently achieving manufacturers’ recommendations for miles pergallon, and a target has been introduced for a 1% reduction in miles pergallon over a 12-month period. A new fleet management system iscurrently being introduced. This will enable the monitoring of individualdrivers’ performance. Drivers not achieving the manufacturers’ targetedmiles per gallon will then be identified and additional training will beprovided. In addition, the fitting of aero-dynamic kits to vehicles ishelping to achieve the 1% reduction in fuel usage. TNT uses low sulphurdiesel, which results in lower emissions from vehicles.

Tyre usage has a significant impact on the environment and in orderreduce this TNT says it specifies the supply of products offering efficientwear, safety and reusable covers. The condition of tyres is monitored bytheir supplier to ensure full usage. Tyres will then be subject to re-cut orre-tread, within safe limits. Old tyres are recycled.

Finally TNT is running a trial of the use of dual fuel engines, which useboth liquified petroleum gas and diesel fuel. This trial is in its infancy atpresent, with eight tractor units with engines modified to run on bothfuels. If successful this could result in a long-term reduction of both fuelemissions and use of fossil fuels.

ENVIRONMENT

By consolidating the deliveries for six titles, the Guardian, Express,Telegraph, FinancialTimes, Star and Sport,there has been a significant reductionin fleet usage