Mailing houses could be forced to scrap the use of polywrap in favour of paper that is up to 75% recycled under a newly proposed UK standard for direct mail that is being endorsed by the Direct Marketing Association (DMA).
The PAS 2020 standard has been proposed by the British Standards Institute (BSi), but has been developed in conjunction with a panel of direct mail experts, including industry practitioners, representatives of national and local government and consumer groups.
A draft copy, which PrintWeek has obtained, is currently with the panel. Respondents have until 25 July to give their thoughts on the proposed standards.
According to the DMA's director of media channel development, Robert Keitch, the organisation hopes to have the standard in place by September.
The standard will have three levels, with companies having to adhere to stricter rulings in order to meet each level.
Some of the criteria included are the eradication of bindings, laminations, non-biodegradable plastic wrapping, polystyrene envelope windows and staples; a minimum of 75% recycled fibre; 75% of inks used to be vegetable oil-based and contain no mineral oil; and 75% of all finishes to be water-based.
Although direct mail companies may be concerned about meeting such hard-hitting targets, at the moment there are no plans to make the standard mandatory.
However, Keitch believes there will be still be a high take-up when the standard is brought in.
He said: "The smart organisations will understand that the environment is an investment in a strategic capability. It is not a cost, it is a competitive advantage.
"Clients will be asking what do I have to do to be more environmentally focused, and the answer is to follow this standard – it is a clear-cut strategic way forward with no ambiguity.
"The point of the standard is that we can provide the whole industry with a tool that is able to improve their environmental performance. This is about members and individuals demonstrating to policy makers that they can seize the challenge and live up to it before the policy makers decide they have to do that for themselves."
Keitch added that the BSi was "arguably the world's best standard setting body", which was the reason the DMA had worked with them in this instance.
Source: printweek
The PAS 2020 standard has been proposed by the British Standards Institute (BSi), but has been developed in conjunction with a panel of direct mail experts, including industry practitioners, representatives of national and local government and consumer groups.
A draft copy, which PrintWeek has obtained, is currently with the panel. Respondents have until 25 July to give their thoughts on the proposed standards.
According to the DMA's director of media channel development, Robert Keitch, the organisation hopes to have the standard in place by September.
The standard will have three levels, with companies having to adhere to stricter rulings in order to meet each level.
Some of the criteria included are the eradication of bindings, laminations, non-biodegradable plastic wrapping, polystyrene envelope windows and staples; a minimum of 75% recycled fibre; 75% of inks used to be vegetable oil-based and contain no mineral oil; and 75% of all finishes to be water-based.
Although direct mail companies may be concerned about meeting such hard-hitting targets, at the moment there are no plans to make the standard mandatory.
However, Keitch believes there will be still be a high take-up when the standard is brought in.
He said: "The smart organisations will understand that the environment is an investment in a strategic capability. It is not a cost, it is a competitive advantage.
"Clients will be asking what do I have to do to be more environmentally focused, and the answer is to follow this standard – it is a clear-cut strategic way forward with no ambiguity.
"The point of the standard is that we can provide the whole industry with a tool that is able to improve their environmental performance. This is about members and individuals demonstrating to policy makers that they can seize the challenge and live up to it before the policy makers decide they have to do that for themselves."
Keitch added that the BSi was "arguably the world's best standard setting body", which was the reason the DMA had worked with them in this instance.
Source: printweek
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