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By Laura King, Messenger Editor
As a group, 245 newspapers exceeded the state’s newsprint recycling goals in 2009, according to survey results from the 2009 Texas Recycled Newsprint Survey, conducted by the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality.
In 1999, the Texas Legislature set forth an objective for newspaper publishers to meet at least one of two recycling goals. One goal calls for 30 percent of the total amount of newsprint purchased to contain at least 25 percent post-consumer recycled content.
Post-consumer recycled content can include paper, paperboard and other fibrous products that have completed their normal cycle of production and use.
The second goal calls for the total amount of newsprint purchased to contain an average of 18 percent post-consumer recycled content.
Individually, 53 percent of respondents met one goal, while 35 percent exceeded both goals.
Texas Press Association estimates there are about 508 newspapers in Texas that are published, sold and distributed, which means that more than half of the state’s newspapers did not respond to the survey.
One of the main reasons more newspapers did not respond was because it can be difficult for newspapers to find a source of recycled newsprint.
“Up until the last few years we haven’t had a source of recycled newsprint,” said Joe Thompson, assistant publisher at Hood County News in Granbury.
There are currently no paper mills in Texas. Champion International opened two paper mills in Sheldon and Lufkin in 1993. The two mills have changed hands over the years.
They were eventually bought by Abitibi-Consolidated Inc., who later merged with Bowater to form AbitibiBowater Inc. The mills were closed in 2003.
The closure meant less recycled content would be available in Texas. The recycled content Texas newspapers receive now comes from paper mills in other states.
“Prior to the Lufkin mill closing down, we were well ahead of the agreed percentages,” Thompson said.
Hood County News has a circulation of about 10,000. In addition, the newspaper also prints about 19 other publications, including TPA's Texas Press Messenger.
Thompson said he expects to use up to 800 metric tons of newsprint this year, which the paper will purchase through PAGE Cooperative.
The co-op is a purchasing system for independent daily and non-daily, general-interest newspapers and privately owned newspaper groups. PAGE members pool their individual purchases to create large-volume leverage that earns them discounts on newsprint.
Through the co-op, newspapers are also able to order newsprint up to a year in advance.
Thompson said Hood County News could buy its recycled newsprint directly from a supplier, but there would be no guarantee of supply.
"They might have plenty one month and none the next," Thompson said. "We do this so we have a promised supply of newsprint for an entire year."
Thompson said the paper started purchasing its newsprint from PAGE in the early '90s, after Champion International and several other manufacturers starting rationing the amount of newsprint papers could purchase, due to a shortage in supply.
More than 60 newspapers in Texas are members of the co-op.
This summer, Hood County News started getting recycled newsprint from a mill in Atlanta owned by AbitibiBowater Inc., a Montreal-based company and one of the world's largest manufacturers of pulp and paper.
The Dallas Morning News is also a member of PAGE and gets its recycled content from AbitibiBowater Inc. and two other main suppliers: Boise Inc. and NORPAC.
Larger newspapers like The Dallas Morning News, with a Monday through Friday circulation of nearly 400,000 and a weekend circulation approaching 689,000, purchase the majority of recycled content.
The paper consumes up to 160 metric tons of newsprint on a daily basis and purchases around 30 percent recycled newsprint a year, according to Paul Bughman, assistant press room manager.
In addition, The Dallas Morning News prints several other papers, including The New York Times, USA Today and The Wall Street Journal.
Over the last several years, however, many newspapers have been hit hard by the state of the economy and the advent of new media. Every printed newspaper that stops publishing means less recycled newsprint for manufacturers to collect.
If the number of printed publications continues to decline, it could become increasingly difficult for newspapers to find a reliable source of recycled newsprint. |
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Messenger Staff
Publisher
Micheal Hodges
Editor
Laura King
For questions or corrections please call the editor at 512-477-6755 or email lking@texaspress.com.
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Single issue 50 cents
© Texas Press Messenger, 2011 (ISSN 1521-7523). Published monthly by Texas Press Service, a business affiliate of Texas Press Association. Periodicals postage paid at Austin, Texas, and additional mailing office, USPS 541-440. Printed by Hood County News in Granbury, Texas.
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