At Newspaper Club, we’re committed to reducing our environmental impact. We believe print can be a responsible and sustainable medium and conduct our business with that goal in mind.

Paper

We source all of our paper from responsibly managed forests and producers that have met a strict set of environmental and socially responsible standards.

Certifications are used to ensure paper is produced from environmentally friendly sources. The key ones are:

• EU Ecolabel - an EU label of environmental excellence awarded to products and services that meet high environmental standards
• FSC - the Forest Stewardship Council is a global non-profit organisation that sets the standards for what is a responsibly managed forest
• PEFC - an international non-profit, non-governmental umbrella organisation that endorses national forest certification systems
• Blue Angel - the ecolabel of the German government
• Carbon Balanced Paper scheme - a carbon offsetting scheme set up by the World Land Trust to measure and reduce, before offsetting residual carbon emissions.

We offer a wide range of paper types. Every paper type we use has at least two of these certifications:

• 45gsm salmon - made by Holmen from a mix of mechanically pulped virgin fibre and recycled paper. FSC and PEFC certified
• 52gsm recycled - our most popular traditional paper is 100% recycled and made from UK-sourced recycled material. It’s made in Kings Lynn by Palm Paper only 60 miles away from our printer. FSC, PEFC and Blue Angel certified
• 55gsm improved - made by Stora Enso from renewable virgin fibre. EU Ecolabel and FSC certified
• 70gsm improved - made by Holmen from mechanically pulped, virgin fibre. EU Ecolabel, FSC and PEFC certified
• 80gsm bright - made by Arctic Paper from chemically pulped, virgin fibre. FSC and PEFC certified
• 80gsm bright recycled - made by Denmaur from 100% post-consumer waste. FSC and Carbon Balanced Paper certified

Toners and inks

Our digitally printed newspapers use toner made by Xeikon with 100% certified green energy and contained in fully recyclable containers. It is free from solvents and VOCs (volatile organic compounds), is odourless and food-approved. It is also de-inkable, meaning the newspaper can be completely recycled to create new newsprint.

Our traditionally printed newspapers use standard coldset web offset inks made by SunChemical. Vegetable-based inks are being developed for newspaper printing but do not currently provide the same quality. We hope to adopt them in the future.

Energy consumption

In 2024, solar panels at our press generated 93,700 kWh of electricity – enough to print nearly 60% of our orders.

Packaging

We use minimal plastic in our packaging. For digital orders, we’ve removed plastic strapping and packing tape.

For our traditional orders, we are looking at innovative ways to remove packaging without damaging newspapers. For example, when we use boxes to ship your newspapers, we will place them loosely in the box rather than strapping and wrapping them in plastic (we do that for our larger digital orders). We are now offering compostable polybags and we are looking at compostable pallet wrap in the future.

Reducing waste

Printing newspapers can generate waste paper, whether it’s from running test prints to get the best results or trimming our minis down to size.

We produce as little waste paper as possible and recycle all of it. Around 80% of our waste paper is turned into recycled newsprint and the remaining 20% is shredded and turned into animal bedding (mostly for pigs and horses).

The aluminium plates used for traditional printing are recycled by J & G Environmental and become a variety of components including car parts.

Trees for life

We donate a portion of our annual profits to Trees For Life, a conservation charity working to rewild the Scottish Highlands. Since 1993, they’ve planted nearly 2 million trees in the Caledonian Forest, a unique habitat that’s home to rare wildlife and incredible biodiversity. You can join us planting a tree in our grove!

Continuous sustainability

We’ll continue trying to reduce our environmental impact but if you have any specific questions please email us at newspaperclub@newspaperclub.com.