Does Your Catalog Care?

This report reveals that catalog companies are overwhelmingly choosing virgin over recycled paper. Seventy-four different catalogs were surveyed for the report, including J.C. Penney, Bloomingdale’s by Mail, Spiegel, Eddie Bauer, Lands’ End, L.L. Bean, Victoria’s Secret, Williams-Sonoma, Pottery Barn, and J. Crew. Of the companies surveyed, only Norm Thompson Outfitters, Omaha Steaks, and Disney reported using recycled paper throughout the body of their catalogs. Norm Thompson Outfitters partnered with Environmental Defense to make the switch from virgin to recycled paper in 2001.The report asks consumers to call catalog companies and ask them to use recycled paper. According to the report, if the entire catalog industry switched to paper with just 10% postconsumer recycled content, the savings in wood use alone would be enough to stretch a six-foot fence across the United States seven times.