The Drum Awards for Marketing - Extended Deadline

-d -h -min -sec

Media The Guardian

The Guardian joins plastic fight with compostable wrapping

Author

By John Glenday, Reporter

January 14, 2019 | 2 min read

The Guardian is laying claim to being the first national newspaper to fully adopt biodegradable wrapping for its weekend print edition, after unveiling a compostable replacement derived from potato starch.

The Guardian

The Guardian joins plastic fight with compostable wrapping

The newspaper is remaining tight-lipped on the costs involved in making the switch, which follows in the footsteps of similar initiatives by The New Internationalist and the National Trust, to ditch plastics from their own publications.

A phased switchover began this weekend in the Greater London area and select English counties with some copies of the Saturday edition and its slew of supplements contained in an environmentally friendly bag, which can be disposed of in a food waste recycling bin instead of finding its way to landfill.

Born out of reader feedback the changeover will gradually take effect across the whole country in the months ahead but doesn’t come without a cost, the weekday edition of the title will increase in price by 20p to £2.20 while the Saturday edition jumps in cost by 30p to £3.20.

Justifying the increases editor-in-chief Katharine Viner commented: “Sales of all newspapers are in historic decline; advertisers increasingly spend their money with technology giants rather than publishers; and the costs of printing, paper and distribution continue to rise.”

Organisations the world over have been seeking to reduce their plastics footprint, including National Geographic's 'Planet or Plastic?' initiative.

Media The Guardian

More from Media

View all

Trending

Industry insights

View all
Add your own content +