Being part of the Book Chain Project means helping to develop a better understanding of where and how
books are made.
The Book Chain Project is open to book and magazine publishers, commercial printers and manufacturers involved in the book supply chain. It involves 24 leading book and journal publishers, over 400 print suppliers, and more than 300 paper manufacturers.
Printer Trento participates annually in online data collection relating to Safety and Health in the workplace, CSR and the Environment, communicating its performance transparently and making itself available to provide evidence, on request, of its statements.
Printer Trento, being also a Sedex member, regularly carries out 2 Pillar audits, and reports are publicly available upon request.
What is the Book Chain Project in detail?
The Book Chain Project is a collaborative project powered by Carnstone. It came to life in 2016, when three separated projects have been gathered under the Book Chain Project: PREPS, PIPS, and PRELIMS.
PREPS – Fighting deforestation
PREPS Grading System is a rating tool created in 2003 by Egmont UK.
In 2006, 10 publishers started to support the project and finally launched it: Egmont, Imago, Usborne Books, Hachette, Pearson, Reed Elsevier, Penguin, Sage & HarperCollins.
This group of founding publishers has developed a database holding all technical information about wood types, fibres, pulp, and forest sources of the papers used. In addition to this, they include data about the CO2 emissions and water consumption of the paper mills they work with.
Each time a member wants to implement a new paper brand, a request is sent to the PREPS office. They will then investigate the paper specifications directly with the paper makers.
These specifications are added to the PREPS database and graded according to the PREPS Grading System. Every one of them is rated from 1 to 5 stars.
The grade usually depends on the number of stars awarded: 1, 3 or 5 stars.
Grade 1: Paper with unknown or unwanted forest source
Grade 3: All forest sources used for the paper are known and responsible; forest source is covered by a valid FSC / PEFC license
Grade 5: Paper is certified FSC / PEFC or 100% recycled
PIPS – More transparency about chemicals
With the aim of complying with law updates about chemical safety imposed by EU in 2010, publishers have partnered to guarantee more transparency and to respect the strict requirements regarding chemicals in paper production.
This gives rise to the PIPS (Publishers Information on Product Safety), a tool that collects full chemical substance lists – including inks, varnishes, and adhesives.
The Book Chain Project analyses the chemicals lists, with careful regard to chemical safety legislation in 5 different jurisdictions.
PRELIMS – Company Social Responsibility
Back in 2003, a group of publishers reunited to agree on a common standard of social responsibility, in the wake of their acknowledgement of the UN Global Compact.
This group has later taken the name of “PRELIMS”.
After a thorough analysis, the group stated that all criteria of social responsibility required by distributors and retailers shared the same fundamentals.
As a result, they decided to:
- Agree on a single standard valid for all suppliers.
- Share the Audit data, enabling those who work with multiple publishers to use a single Audit for all their partners.
To the present day, 24 of the most renowned publishers together with 400 printers and 300 paper makers participate in the Book Chain Project.
We are proud to be part of this project, and to contribute annually to the development of a more responsible, transparent, and aware book chain production.