Paper and print promoter Two Sides held its annual meeting for country managers in London recently.
Representatives from Europe, North America, South America, South Africa and Australasia have resolved to renew efforts to stop organisations using anti-print and paper messages in their marketing. They say that claims like, ‘go paperless, go green’ and ‘go paperless, save trees’, have become commonplace as major corporations promote electronic services and products to reduce costs.
However, they make these claims with no analysis to back them up; they ignore the specific sustainable features of print and paper; and they do not consider the fact that all communication channels have an environmental impact.
In a joint statement, Two Sides country managers say, “Our global anti-greenwash campaign, targeted at major banks, utilities, telecoms and other Fortune 500 companies, has investigated nearly 500 organisations worldwide. Of these, 63 per cent have been found to be using greenwash in their marketing, usually in breach of local regulations, and after being challenged by Two Sides, 70 per cent have voluntarily amended their messaging – a great success story.
“We intend to carry on this important work, which, if left unchallenged, would leave millions of consumers believing that the use of paper is environmentally unfriendly. The reality is that paper is produced by a highly responsible industry which manages forests for the benefit of future generations.”
Two Sides receives support from leading companies and associations worldwide, spanning the graphic communications value chain and covering industry associations, inks and chemicals, envelopes and mail, merchants, print equipment, printers, converters, and pulp and paper producers.
Two Sides battles greenwash
