ReMix Campaign Boosts Magazine and Catalog Recycling in New York City
MEMPHIS, TN—March 20, 2009—ReMix partners Verso Paper Corp., Time Inc. and the National Recycling Coalition today announced that magazine and catalog recycling increased an impressive 29.3 percent since the launch of the New York City ReMix Campaign in January 2008. Results are based on data from extensive sorting of recovered waste paper conducted at the Pratt Industries paper mill in Staten Island every four months compared to a baseline sort conducted prior to the campaign launch.
ReMix—Recycling Magazines is Excellent!—is a national public education campaign created by the partners to increase awareness that magazines and catalogs can be recycled along with other paper products in residential recycling programs.
“We couldn’t be more pleased with the results of the New York City ReMix campaign, said David Hurd, director of the Council on the Environment of New York City’s (CENY) Office of Recycling Outreach and Education (OROE). “We know from our outreach efforts that people support recycling, but often are unsure what types of paper products can be recycled. Thanks in large part to ReMix, New Yorkers now clearly know how easy it is to recycle their magazines and catalogs right along with their other paper recycling,” he said.
The ReMix campaign began when a study by Time Inc. and Verso found that while 95 percent of all unsold newsstand magazines are recycled by newsstands and publishers, only about 17 percent of sold magazines are recycled. Before the launch of the New York City campaign, ReMix programs were successfully conducted in Boston, Prince George’s County, MD, Milwaukee, and Portland, OR.
The New York City ReMix campaign kicked off with a news conference hosted by Mayor Michael Bloomberg in the lobby of the Empire State Building in January 2008. Joining the founding partners in the New York City campaign were the Hearst Corporation and its Hearst Magazines unit, represented at the news conference by Hearst Magazines President Cathie Black; Pratt Industries, represented by Pratt Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Anthony Pratt; and Time Warner Cable, CENY, OROE and the New York City Department of Sanitation.
Beginning in February 2008, ReMix advertising appeared across the city in full-page public service advertisements in consumer magazines including TIME, Country Living, Cosmopolitan and Sports Illustrated. Ads also appeared on outdoor boards, city buses and sanitation trucks, in subway cars and stations, in movie theaters, on cable television and many other media outlets. The total value of paid and in-kind media advertising donations for the ReMix campaign exceeded $7 million.
“Creating awareness is always the first step in getting people to take action,” said Time Senior Vice President for Production Guy Gleysteen. “As a New York City-based company, we knew that our environmentally conscious home town would respond to the ReMix message in a big way once they learned that magazines and catalogs can be recycled, but the nearly one-third increase in magazine and catalog recycling was even better than we expected.”
“We knew going in that New Yorkers had already embraced recycling as a way to keep waste out of landfills and improve the environment,” said Verso Vice President for Sustainability Craig Liska. “ReMix encouraged them to take the next step, moving more magazines and catalogs into the recycling mix. By doing so, New Yorkers are not only extending the life of a valuable resource, but are also reducing greenhouse gas emissions that contribute to climate change like methane that may be released from landfills.”
The ReMix campaign was coordinated locally by the Council on the Environment of New York City’s Office of Recycling Outreach and Education and the New York City Department of Sanitation.
About Time Inc.
Time Inc.’s (www.timeinc.com ) more than 125 magazine titles are read more than 250 million times worldwide each month. The company’s magazines account for 18.7 percent of the total advertising revenue for U.S. consumer magazines. Time Inc’s most significant titles include Time, People, Sports Illustrated, Entertainment Weekly, Fortune, InStyle and Real Simple. Time Inc. is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Time Warner Inc., a leading media and entertainment company, whose businesses include interactive services, cable systems, filmed entertainment, television networks and publishing.
About Verso Paper Corp.
Based in Memphis, Tennessee, Verso Paper Corp. is a leading North American producer of coated papers, including coated groundwood and coated freesheet, and supercalendered and specialty products. Verso’s paper products are used primarily in media and marketing applications, including magazines, catalogs and commercial printing applications such as high-end advertising brochures, annual reports and direct-mail advertising. Additional information about Verso is available on the company’s Web site at www.versopaper.com.
About the National Recycling Coalition
Founded in 1978, the National Recycling Coalition (www.nrc-recycle.org) is the largest national nonprofit organization dedicated to the advancement and improvement of recycling, waste prevention, composting and reuse. NRC’s objective is to eliminate waste and promote sustainable economies through advancing sound management practices for raw materials in North America. NRC is an IRS tax exempt 501(c)(3) organization with members that span all aspects of waste reduction, reuse and recycling in North America. The Coalition represents advocates from every region of the country, in every sector of the waste reduction field, including local recycling coordinators, state and federal regulators, corporate environmental managers, environmental educators and advocates, consumers and waste management professionals.