Nonprofit, Business and Government Leaders Partner to Increase Recycling of Magazines and Catalogs

Nonprofit, Business and Government Leaders Partner to Increase
Recycling of Magazines and Catalogs
Prince George's County Program to Become Model for U.S. Cities 


UPPER MARLBORO, Md., April 23  /PRNewswire/ -- Building on County Executive
Jack Johnson's Livable Communities Initiative and its strong recycling record,
Prince George's County, Md., launched an innovative campaign with business and
nonprofit partners to increase recycling of magazines and catalogs.  This
partnership, which includes the National Recycling Coalition, Time Inc.,
International Paper and Recycle America Alliance, will be a model for magazine
and catalog recycling in cities across America.

(Logo:  http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20020701/IPLOGO )

Designed to inform residents that magazines and catalogs can easily be included
with other paper recycling, the "Recycling Magazines is Excellent" campaign, or
"ReMix," will help divert magazines from the landfill and provide an economic
benefit for Prince George's County.

"The ReMix campaign reflects the goals of my Livable Communities Initiative -
citizens and residents taking a vested interest in improving the environmental
and economic health of the county by recycling," Johnson said. "It's easy to
recycle magazines and catalogs because we already accept both in our curbside
recycling program.  We are honored that the partnership has selected Prince
George's County for this program based on our comprehensive efforts to make
recycling part of our everyday life."

Johnson encouraged residents who are not already including magazines and
catalogs in their paper recycling to begin by simply putting them with their
other paper to be recycled.

For the ReMix partners, the environmental benefit was a key factor in the
decision to sponsor the public awareness program.

"As a committed steward of the environment, International Paper partnered with
Time Inc. to research current trends in magazine recycling, and we discovered
tremendous opportunity to divert used magazines and catalogs from landfills,"
said Carl Gagliardi, International Paper director of environmental business
services.  "When a joint study suggested that one out of six magazines sold
gets recycled, we partnered with Time Inc. to develop this ReMix campaign to
promote the ease and benefits of magazine and catalog recycling."

International Paper and Time Inc. joined with the National Recycling Coalition
to research major U.S. cities' recycling rates and infrastructures to determine
ideal locations for the ReMix program.  Prince George's County is one of two
locales nationwide selected to participate in the ReMix pilot program.  The
other is Boston.

"Prince George's County is known for its long-term, effective recycling
program.  It is a great place to pilot the ReMix partnership," said National
Recycling Coalition Executive Director Kate Krebs.

"According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, about 2 million tons of
magazines are produced each year in the United States, but only about 32
percent are recycled," Krebs said.  "Our national research shows that Americans
support recycling, but they are often uncertain about what can be recycled. 
That's why it is so important for all of us -- government agencies, leading
companies and advocacy organizations -- to work together to educate the public.
 ReMix is a wonderful example of how the public and private sectors can work
hand-in-hand to increase recycling, not only in Prince George's County, but
nationwide."

The program not only benefits the county, but also is based on the core
environmental values of its major sponsors.

"Our employees use renewable resources to make products people depend on every
day, including the use of recovered paper fiber for the manufacture of a
variety of products," Gagliardi said.  "International Paper is committed to
raising public awareness about the value of recycling all kinds of paper
products, and communities benefit when we can partner with a customer like Time
Inc. to pursue this common goal."

David Refkin, director of sustainable development at Time Inc., said, "We're
excited to be part of this effort to promote and increase the recycling of
magazines in Prince George's County and the greater Washington metro area. This
initiative ties into the primary goals of sustainable development -- economic
and environmental sustainability and social responsibility.  Prince George's
County will save money, and waste will be diverted from the landfill and
recycled into new paper products.  Additionally, Prince George's County will be
playing a leadership role in finding creative methods to increase the benefits
of recycling."

"Supporting our readers and their communities has been one of our core values
since the magazine was founded," said Ed Lewis, publisher of ESSENCE magazine
and chairman and CEO of Essence Communications, Inc., a joint venture with Time
Inc.

"ESSENCE's readers care about their environment.  In addition, a growing number
of advertisers have been promoting their environmental efforts in our magazines
and in other titles.  Recycling is just one way to improve the livability of
our communities, Lewis said.  "ESSENCE is proud to be associated with this
partnership to increase the recycling of magazines in Prince George's County."

The partnership members developed public service advertisements to encourage
curbside recycling of magazines and catalogs.  The ads, which will appear in
various magazines including TIME and Sports Illustrated, specifically target
Prince George's County and other Washington, D.C. metro area residents.  This
targeting capability is due thanks to Media Networks Inc., a marketer of local
advertising in national magazines.  Prince George's County will continue to
promote public awareness of magazine and catalog recycling through outreach
activities to residents.

"Recycle America Alliance is pleased to be a partner in this effort," said
Steve Ragiel, president of Recycle America Alliance, LLC, a subsidiary of Waste
Management, Inc.  "As the country's largest recycler, we look forward to being
involved in this public-private partnership and view it as another venue for us
to raise awareness about the benefits of recycling and environmental
stewardship."

The partners will measure the recovery of magazines and catalogs throughout the
region.  The county will work to help residents take advantage of this
convenient disposal of used reading material that can be recycled into
newspapers or other paper products.

International Paper, the National Recycling Coalition and Time Inc. will
showcase the ReMix program as a pilot for other U.S. cities and towns.
Currently, paper represents about 65 percent of the residential tonnage that is
recycled by Prince George's County.  However, with magazines and catalogs
making up less than 6 percent of the paper tonnage, the ReMix partners see a
clear opportunity to create an exemplary program that other localities will
want to emulate.  The progress of the ReMix program will be presented in late
August at the 23rd Annual National Recycling Coalition Congress and Exposition
in San Francisco.

For more information on the Prince George's County ReMix program or to learn
more about magazine and catalog recycling, call 301-883-5045.

About the partners:

Time Inc.'s more than 130 magazines reach total audiences of more than 300
million readers.  In 2003, the company's magazines accounted for nearly a
quarter of the total advertising revenue of U.S. consumer magazines.  PEOPLE,
Sports Illustrated and TIME were ranked one, three and four in ad revenue
respectively. ESSENCE magazine is the pre-eminent lifestyle magazine for
African-American women.  In October 2000, Essence Communications, Inc. signed
an agreement with Time Inc. to form a joint venture known as Essence
Communications Partners.  Essence is the majority owner of the venture.  Time
Inc. is a wholly owned subsidiary of Time Warner Inc., the world's leading
media and entertainment company.  Its businesses include interactive services,
cable systems, films and entertainment, television networks, and publishing.
For more information, visit the Time Inc.  Web site at
http://www.timewarner.com/ .

Founded in 1978, the National Recycling Coalition, Inc. (NRC) is a nonprofit
501(c)(3) organization representing all the diverse interests committed to the
common goal of maximizing recycling to achieve the benefits of resource
conservation, solid waste reduction, environmental protection, energy
conservation, and social and economic development.  Its 4,000 members include
recycling and environmental organizations; large and small businesses; federal,
state and local governments; and individuals.  The NRC is dedicated to the
advancement and technical information, education, training, outreach and
advocacy services to its members in order to conserve resources and benefit the
environment.  For additional information about the NRC, please visit
http://www.nrc-recycle.org/.

International Paper (http://www.internationalpaper.com/) is the world's largest
paper and forest products company. Businesses include paper, packaging and
forest products.  As one of the largest private forest landowners in the world,
the company manages its forests under the principles of the Sustainable
Forestry Initiative(R) (SFI) program, a system that ensures the continual
planting, growing and harvesting of trees while protecting wildlife, plants,
soil, air and water quality.  Headquartered in the United States, International
Paper has operations in over 40 countries and sells its products in more than
120 nations.

Recycle America Alliance, LLC, a subsidiary of Waste Management, Inc., is North
America's largest recycler, currently handling 8 million tons of commodities
annually through a nationwide network of 140 recycling facilities. As a
one-stop resource, Recycle America provides a comprehensive range of services:
materials collection, optical sorting through single-stream processing
technology, facilities management, program development, brokerage services and
price-stabilizing risk management tools.  Recycle America's leadership is a
product of its unique combination of financial stability, industry knowledge,
advanced technologies and market relationships that combine to deliver more
affordable and adaptable service options.

County Executive Jack B. Johnson has always been an advocate for recycling and
has made it a priority during his administration.  Prince George's County
http://www.goprincegeorgescounty.com/ built its recycling program from a pilot
program serving five communities in 1989 to a weekly curbside collection that
serves approximately 155,000 households.  Residential recycling opportunities
are also available through the multifamily recycling program and the
condominium recycling program.  Yard waste, which includes grass, leaves and
small brush, is collected curbside once a week from April 15 through January 15
and taken to the County's Western Branch Composting Facility, where it is made
into compost.  As part of the yard waste collection program, Christmas trees
are collected, processed into pine mulch at the composting site and given away
to county residents at an event held in the spring.  During 2003, the county
collected over 81,000 tons of yard waste, which included approximately 360 tons
of Christmas trees.  Prince George's County was one of the first jurisdictions
in the Washington metropolitan area to have a permanent site for electronics
recycling.  Approximately 56 tons of televisions, fax machines, telephones, CD
players, VCRs, copiers, pagers, monitors, computers and computer equipment were
collected for recycling during 2003.  Citizens and residents recycled over
37,000 gallons of paint, motor oil, antifreeze, brake fluids, pesticides,
household cleaners and chemicals at the household hazardous waste collection
site.  In addition to recycling opportunities at the permanent household
hazardous waste site, the county also hosts collection days for hazardous waste
in targeted areas throughout the county.  At the Brown Station Road Landfill,
tires and appliances are collected for recycling and reuse.  Prince George's
County offers technical support to businesses starting a recycling program and
operates a recycling program in county government buildings. 

http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20020701/IPLOGODATASOURCE: International
Paper



CONTACT:  Carol Terry of Prince George's County, [phone]; or Kate

Krebs of the National Recycling Coalition, Inc., [phone], ext. 23; or

Peter Costiglio of Time Inc, [phone]; or Kathi Rowzie of International

Paper, [phone]; or Heather Browne of Recycle America Alliance, LLC,

[phone]



Web site:  http://www.internationalpaper.com/

http://www.goprincegeorgescounty.com/

http://www.nrc-recycle.org/

http://www.timewarner.com/ 

Copyright