Sustainability — Paper Options Not Clear Cut

Only 14 percent of the book buyers and 16 percent of the magazine buyers sampled said they wouldn’t be willing to pay any additional amount.

According to the survey findings, factors such as sex, geographic region, education level and income didn’t significantly impact respondents’ willingness to spend more for publications printed on recycled paper. There was a much bigger differential when responses were broken down into age brackets, with the 65+ age group lagging the younger consumer brackets by 10 to 20 percentage points.

The telephone survey was conducted by an independent research firm, Opinion Research Corp., under the sponsorship of Book Business magazine, Green Press Initiative (GPI) and Co-Op America. While the survey question only asked about recycled paper, “it is assumed that the results would also be true for paper that incorporates FSC fiber,” concludes Tyson Miller, GPI’s executive director.