Striving for sustainability .... it is within our Reach

Picking up a paper is easy but knowing how that paper is sourced and produced from tree to print is how we earn your trust.

It is so important for us to let you know how seriously we take managing our business to minimise environmental impact.

There is no getting away from climate emergency and we should not underestimate the part we can all play.

It would be disingenuous of us to be reporting on topics such as global warming, carbon footprint, recycling, plastics, pollution and waste without answering the case as to how we, as a business, justify not being entirely eco- friendly ( travelling, printing on paper, delivery, etc) ourselves.

We feel strongly that we have an editorial responsibility — hundreds of thousands of people across the regions of

Scotland still rely on their local paper for news and information — and we are absolutely going to use that to tell the truth about the environmental issues affecting our future and hold councils to account.

There is so much coverage, data and stats on climate change being reported but also so much misinformation and many myths.

We can assure you being a reader of our papers does not in any way contribute to deforestation.

We achieve this by ensuring a ‘ chain of custody’.

All of our newsprint is either sourced from managed sustainable forests, or UK based recycling processes.

Environmental Credentials certification and compliance are not new or ‘ cool’ things for us to have.

We have continuously met and held these strict and independently audited certification requirements of standards for the last eight years.

Our print site at Cardonald — operated by Reach Printing

Services — holds PEFC and FSC Chain of Custody certification and continues to retain ISO 14001: 2015 Environmental Management certification.

We welcome transparency and all of our listings are in the public domain and in our published annual report.

So, this week we are launching our Environmental Credentials campaign to show you, our readers, that we don’t just support and report on climate emergency issues — we also hold ourselves and our business accountable to these values and important discussions.

Our project aims to raise awareness of Reach PLC’s commitment to minimising env i ronmental impact throughout the business.

We are running our certification credentials ( shown below) on the back page of each of our titles next to the barcode.

Reach Scotland Regionals Publishing Editor, George Johnston said: “As a newspaper publisher, our print and environmental credentials underpin everything we do. “Our project aims to raise awareness and encourage readers and advertisers to support the important role the local newspaper industry plays in protecting the environment.

“We are proud of our environmental credentials.”

Reach Printing Services BDE & Marketing Manager Tia Dickenson added: “As one of the largest print providers in the UK — but also the largest news publisher in the UK.

“We recognise that a big misconception with consumers and within the industry itself is the impact of print and paper.

“To raise awareness of the sustainability and effectiveness of print we have launched campaigns from an industry perspective, our Print’s Charming campaign and also from a consumer perspective in our 17 Scottish regional titles.”

Being a reader of our papers does not in any way contribute to deforestation As young tress grow they absorb CO2 from the atmosphere, paper also continues to store carbon throughout its lifetime Source: Two Sides