Periodic: A Monthly Blog Feature

An occasional review of items that caught our eye in BPL’s magazine subscriptions.

In Our Opinion…

The library has stepped up its recycling efforts over the years, but one area remains challenging – the plastic wrap on magazines. Read about one magazine publisher that has made a praiseworthy change.

The Library tries hard to recycle wherever we can, from staff water bottles to old newspapers. That is why we have been especially annoyed by the magazine industry’s tendency to wrap their product in plastic.

Some of us can remember magazines and newspapers travelling through the mail unscathed with nothing more than a brown paper “strap” around their midriff.

The envelope used now holds all manner of flyers and advertising, which no doubt provides additional income to the magazine publishers. Let’s face it – that’s probably keeping them in the black. But these envelopes are made of plastic. We process well over a hundred magazines a month, many of which are wrapped in plastic. Imagine the waste generated by all the subscriptions nationwide!

But this story has a hero – National Geographic now uses recyclable paper to wrap their magazine, so those great maps can stay put without plastic. Three cheers to NatGeo for setting such a fine example!