Munich/Pößneck, 11/30/2020

A Big Step In Sustainable Book Production

Penguin Random House Verlagsgruppe and the Bertelsmann Printing Group printer GGP Media have signed the “Healthy Printing Charter”. The goal of the charter is for all of the materials to be reprocessed and reused. Paper will be recycled, and the inks and glues will be removed without leaving behind any residue.

The sustainable and resource-saving production of books is a key element of the strategy of GGP Media and Penguin Random House Verlagsgruppe. With the signing of the “Healthy Printing Charter”, the two companies are now taking yet another trend setting step. Effective December 1, the Bertelsmann Printing Group printer GGP Media and Penguin Random House Verlagsgruppe signed the charter that was initiated as part of EPEA-Part of Drees & Sommer’s “Healthy Printing” initiative with the financial support of the Dutch DOEN Foundation. The companies commit to the “Healthy Printing” principle and to work on ensuring that all of the materials will be reprocessed and reused. For example, this means that paper will be recycled and the inks and glues will be removed without leaving behind any residue. All of the materials are thereby biocompatible.

Encouraging signal for the industry

“Making sustainable books has many facets,” said Barbara Scheuer, General Production Manager and Environmental Officer of PRH Verlagsgruppe. “In addition to consistently avoiding and offsetting CO₂ emissions, with the signing of the ‘Healthy Printing Charter’ we are making a commitment to another topic that has been very important to us for many years: environmentally-friendly printing on sustainable materials to the greatest degree possible. The fact that GGP also supports the initiative enables us, as the market-leading public interest publishing group, to also print large editions based on the ‘Healthy Printing’ approach. Together, we are getting closer to our sustainability goals and, at the same time, sending an encouraging signal to the industry.”

“As a printing company, it is part of our social responsibility to produce in a way that is as environmentally friendly as possible,” said Jessica Kramß, Head of Quality Management and responsible for sustainability at GGP Media. “Due to the deliberate use of recyclable or compostable materials, an increasing amount of reusable materials can return to the recycling process. Furthermore, we continue working with our clients on climate-neutral production and a responsible use of energy. For this reason, we have decided to sign the ‘Healthy Printing Charter’ together with Penguin Random House Verlagsgruppe.”