It is common knowledge that going digital for documents and promotional material is an assured way to make your business appear more sustainable; or is it? Companies are constantly pushing a ‘go green go digital’, when the opposite may be true.
Paper campaigner Two Sides is working hard to rectify this misinformation significantly impacting the print and paper industry. Assistant editor, Benjamin Austin, reports.
We see more and more often businesses offering options to go digital.
You buy something on the high street and as you get to the counter, the cashier says ‘Can I have your email address to send you the receipt?’
Industries too are pushing people to go digital all under the guise of ‘going green’ but this is at a huge detriment to the print industry.
However, organisations like Two Sides are pushing against this ‘greenwashing’.
Set up in 2008, the global not-for-profit organisation has been campaigning to reveal the truth behind paper sustainability in an ever-growing digital world.
According to the organisation’s latest statistics, 41% of UK consumers believe paper is a wasteful product, while 62% believe electronic communication is more eco-friendly.
However, the latest figures show that paper has one of the highest recycled rates of all materials in the UK at just over 70%.
The campaign manager for Two Sides UK, Josh Birch, said: “Print remains one of the most powerful and sustainable forms of communication.
“Yet consumers and users in the media world are now distracted and enticed by a wide range of alternative media choices.”
Pulling the wool over our eyes
Two Sides ran a survey in 2023 on consumer attitudes towards print and discovered that 55% of European consumers believed claims made by brands switching their customers to digital for environmental reasons were misleading.
Furthermore, 76% said they wanted the choice to remain with paper communication.
Yet companies still push this facade of ‘going green’ as the sole reason to convert without any related evidence.
It is usually claimed that paper production leads to deforestation but actual figures show the opposite with European woodlands growing at a rate of 1,500 football pitches every day.
Yet 60% of European consumers believe forests are shrinking which shows the impact of this misinformation.
Josh continued: “Paper has one of the highest recycling rates compared to other materials yet the industry gets a lot of bad press.
“People think it leads to deforestation and other environmental issues and businesses will tell their customers to go green and ‘save a tree’.
“But more often than not these are empty statements. Most companies push for digital communications to save costs.”
These statements are hugely damaging to an industry that employs in the UK alone, 116,000 people (1,096,000 EU), in more than 8,400 businesses (115,700 EU).
Two Sides has calculated that greenwashing is costing the UK printing and postal industries an estimated £10 million per annum; all under the pretence that paper is not sustainable.
Europe managing director, Jonathan Tame, said: “These greenwash claims not only breach established environmental marketing regulations but also harm an industry with a well-established and continually improving environmental track record.
“It remains vital that these misleading messages are challenged to ensure the industry’s great environmental record is acknowledged and to protect the livelihoods of thousands of people who work in the forest, paper, packaging and print sectors from the impact of opportunistic and deceptive greenwash marketing.”
And that is precisely what Two Sides is doing. So far, the organisation has challenged more than 2,800 organisations about these claims with more than 1,200 removing or changing anti-paper statements.
In Europe alone, 811 companies, including South West Water, New Look, BMW Financial Services and Deutsche Bank, have removed or changed these statements.
Welcoming new members
Two Sides boasts more than 600 members worldwide, the latest of which to join is the print company Formara.
The Southend-based business has advocated for sustainable practices for decades being one of the first UK companies to gain the accreditation Environmental Standard ISO14001.
By joining, Formara has access to a large library of co-brandable communications tools, consumer research, industry-leading information, sustainability advice, and events.
Marketing and PR executive, Russell Turner, said: “We are making every effort we can to be more sustainable and become a more eco-friendly business.
“People think going digital is more eco-friendly because you aren’t using paper but this isn’t true.
“It’s a common misconception that electronic communications are better for the environment than paper-based communications.
“Businesses are creating more and more amounts of electronic waste which is becoming an ever-increasing global issue but most paper products are being produced on fully recyclable paper.”
Since investors bought into the paper product and print business in July 2023, Formara has been looking at more ways to demonstrate its commitment to paper sustainability.
Conversations between Josh Birch and Gina Smith of Two Sides and Andy Pond and Russ Turner of Formara started in December 2024 and very quickly Andy, the company’s managing director, grew excited by the initiative.
Russell continued: “After speaking with Josh, we liked the campaign and how they are trying to educate people about paper. Everything we spoke about we want and our customers want too.
“What stood out to me was the myth-busting campaign it runs and it also offers to visit customers with concerns and host presentations to explain all the information it can give.
“It also offers branded fact sheets and does all this on our behalf so we can keep providing a service to our customers while leaving the sustainability explaining to the experts.
“Paper is everything to us; it’s our bread and butter; so being part of this project will help wipe away false claims to ensure people see how sustainable our practices are.”
It is still early days for Formara’s membership, having only joined early January but it is another active step towards its commitment to sustainability.
Russell is very positive about the future and looks forward to what the partnership between Formara and Two Sides will bring.
Pushing the project
It is not just the industry that Two Sides hopes to enlighten as its Love Paper campaign, aimed at consumers, also explains the positives of paper sustainability through marketing channels and digital communications to a different audience.
To push the initiative, Two Sides will hold its first Love Paper Week between February 3 and 7 where it is encouraging business members to display the campaign’s logo on social media platforms.
Through this exposure, it hopes the information can spread to as many industry members as possible and go a long way to debunking the misinformation being accepted as common knowledge.
At its heart, Two Sides is more of a marketing organisation, spreading facts through various platforms.
Through its members, the group is making leaps and bounds to combat industrial greenwashing ensuring the paper industry gets the just credit it deserves for its efforts towards sustainability.
