2007 - Year of the Freesheet?

In a long discussion with Nick Hallett (distribution manager of the Londonpaper) on tuesday, the message that free newspapers are here to stay was reaffirmed. Nick went to great lengths to tell me about all the waste and recycling initiatives that the Londonpaper was involved with. They have some interesting plans in the pipeline, some of which are quite encouraging.

And over the past few months we have seen further evidence that the free publication model continues to grow in popularity. Piet Baker, in his newsletter, recently reported that there are now 53 countries producing 41.8 million copies of 229 different titles every day. That means circulation of free newspapers around the world has nearly doubled in just two years.

In London, Metro will soon be overtaking one of the oldest tabloids, the Daily Mirror, in terms of circulation; and with Shortlist (aimed at men 'with more than one thing on their mind') hoping to establish itself as the first general interest free weekly magazine, the potential for new rival publications has never been greater. Free publications will enjoy an increasing share of the advertising revenue pie for years to come it seems.

But with all this new enterprise, can we expect to see relative increases in the capacity of the recycling infrastructure to reasonably reflect the free publishing industries desires and achievements? No, is the short answer. New publications require large amounts of money and resources to start up (with the potential of advertising revenues to keep the project moving forward), but the present reliance and pressures on public money to sponsor the increasing demand for free literature and its corresponding waste/recycling challenges, means our ability to act responsibly is becoming increasingly impossible.

Industry is going to have to commit a lot more of its 'bottom line' towards investment and sponsorship of 'green' priorities if we are to really get to grips with the millions of tons of waste we send to landfill every day.

Companies considering new routes to market therefore, should be doing so with environmental levies and taxation uppermost on their balance sheets. This is the only way we can expect to run an economy responsibly. Every new enterprise should be forced to pay realistic amounts of income towards the direct impact it has on the street cleaning services, the recycling infrastructure and the local community at large.