Q: What is best practice now?
A: Managing costs is a fundamental part of business and paper for print offers publishing companies a number of opportunities to reduce expenditure. By choosing alternative grades, sizes or specifications, it may be possible to achieve meaningful savings while maintaining production performance and appearance.
One of the simplest and most effective ways to cut paper costs is to choose a lighter paper weight. As paper is bought and priced by the tonne, even a small reduction in grammage can deliver substantial savings over large print runs. As an example, a 64-page A4 publication with a print run of 100,000 copies requires approximately 23 tonnes of 90g/m² paper. By switching to 80g/m², the total paper requirement falls to just under 20.5 tonnes, a reduction of around 2.5 tonnes. That decrease not only lowers material costs but can also reduce transportation, storage and handling expenses.
Reducing weight while staying within the same paper grade or type is a relatively low risk strategy. It offers savings without noticeably impacting on the appearance or quality of the finished product. Sometimes, a change to a different manufacturer can help with this process, although it’s always best to perform an opacity test before committing.
To achieve even greater savings, there are hybrid or high-bulk papers. These are papers engineered to retain thickness while using less material and are often quoted with a specific volume or bulk. By replacing the 90g/m² text in the above scenario with a 70g/m² 1.2 bulk paper, you would virtually retain the original publication thickness but save over five tonnes of paper!
There is a compromise, as you might expect. High-bulk papers tend to have a slightly rougher surface and a lower brightness, although they still do the job and tend to provide an environmental perception.
Sustainability
Sustainability now ranks equally with cost considerations for many businesses, and paper products offer a compelling opportunity to enhance the environmental profile of your brand.
Paper is both renewable and recyclable. It is sourced from sustainably managed forests, where trees are primarily harvested for timber – the top third of the tree along with coppicing and thinning residues are used for pulp production. Once produced, paper fibres can be recycled between 6-10 times before they become too short for paper manufacture, but even at that stage, they still serve a valuable purpose as a soil improvement agent in agriculture and horticulture. So, what originally comes from the ground ultimately returns to the ground!
The paper industry is one of the few highly transparent industries when it comes to carbon reporting, making it easy for companies to track Scope 3 carbon data as part of their carbon reduction and net-zero programmes. In addition to mill production emissions, mill to printer transportation emissions can be calculated and verified, and it is this level of detail that helps publishers make informed decisions that align with their sustainability goals.
For those looking to go a stage further, carbon balancing can compensate the paper production carbon emissions while contributing to the protection of endangered wildlife and ecosystems. Operated by the World Land Trust, the Carbon Balanced Paper scheme provides a registered logo for use in publications.
Q: How do you see it changing in the future?
A: Sustainable raw material sourcing is becoming increasingly critical, especially with the upcoming enforcement of the EU Deforestation Regulation at the end of 2026, with the UK version to follow in 2027. Forest certification schemes like FSC and PEFC include environmental and social criteria, offering publishers a robust risk mitigation for sustainable supply chain compliance. Whilst they do not guarantee full EUDR compliance, they contribute to the due diligence requirements and are an important part of demonstrating responsible sourcing.
Q: What are your three top tips?
1. If you’re not doing it already, then buy paper independently of your print. This will provide an unrestricted choice of paper sources, so that you can explore different paper types, weights, prices and carbon factors. Of course, this is best achieved through a specialist paper supplier, with whom you will benefit from mill direct pricing, in addition to free sustainability consultancy and a comprehensive paper management and reporting service.
2. Make sure you see a dummy of your publication when considering a switch to reduced paper weight, a different paper type or even a completely different format altogether. Sample sheets can be of help, but there is nothing like a mock-up dummy to provide a visual and tactile experience before committing to a change in paper.
3. Invest time in getting the most out of your paper’s sustainability attributes. This can be done at very little cost, if any, but it can deliver an incredible boost for your product as well as your organisation. Most paper mills have already embarked on their decarbonisation journeys – they could be part of yours as well.
About Denmaur
Denmaur has been one of the established names in the print and publishing sectors since 1983. Today, we have become one of the leading specialist paper suppliers in the UK, offering a comprehensive range of innovative and sustainable products to suit traditional and modern print processes.
Email: jtownsend@denmaur.com
Web: www.denmaur.com
This article was first published in Issue # 1 of Best Practice in Publishing, a new publication from InPublishing. Click here for links to the other ‘best practice’ articles from the publication.
