Nonprofit, Business and Government Leaders Partner to Increase Recycling of Magazines and Catalogs Prince George's County Program to Become Model for U.S. Cities UPPER MARLBORO, Md., April 23 /PRNewswire/ -- Building on County Executive Jack Johnson's Livable Communities Initiative and its strong recycling record, Prince George's County, Md., launched an innovative campaign with business and nonprofit partners to increase recycling of magazines and catalogs. This partnership, which includes the National Recycling Coalition, Time Inc., International Paper and Recycle America Alliance, will be a model for magazine and catalog recycling in cities across America. (Logo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20020701/IPLOGO ) Designed to inform residents that magazines and catalogs can easily be included with other paper recycling, the "Recycling Magazines is Excellent" campaign, or "ReMix," will help divert magazines from the landfill and provide an economic benefit for Prince George's County. "The ReMix campaign reflects the goals of my Livable Communities Initiative - citizens and residents taking a vested interest in improving the environmental and economic health of the county by recycling," Johnson said. "It's easy to recycle magazines and catalogs because we already accept both in our curbside recycling program. We are honored that the partnership has selected Prince George's County for this program based on our comprehensive efforts to make recycling part of our everyday life." Johnson encouraged residents who are not already including magazines and catalogs in their paper recycling to begin by simply putting them with their other paper to be recycled. For the ReMix partners, the environmental benefit was a key factor in the decision to sponsor the public awareness program. "As a committed steward of the environment, International Paper partnered with Time Inc. to research current trends in magazine recycling, and we discovered tremendous opportunity to divert used magazines and catalogs from landfills," said Carl Gagliardi, International Paper director of environmental business services. "When a joint study suggested that one out of six magazines sold gets recycled, we partnered with Time Inc. to develop this ReMix campaign to promote the ease and benefits of magazine and catalog recycling." International Paper and Time Inc. joined with the National Recycling Coalition to research major U.S. cities' recycling rates and infrastructures to determine ideal locations for the ReMix program. Prince George's County is one of two locales nationwide selected to participate in the ReMix pilot program. The other is Boston. "Prince George's County is known for its long-term, effective recycling program. It is a great place to pilot the ReMix partnership," said National Recycling Coalition Executive Director Kate Krebs. "According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, about 2 million tons of magazines are produced each year in the United States, but only about 32 percent are recycled," Krebs said. "Our national research shows that Americans support recycling, but they are often uncertain about what can be recycled. That's why it is so important for all of us -- government agencies, leading companies and advocacy organizations -- to work together to educate the public. ReMix is a wonderful example of how the public and private sectors can work hand-in-hand to increase recycling, not only in Prince George's County, but nationwide." The program not only benefits the county, but also is based on the core environmental values of its major sponsors. "Our employees use renewable resources to make products people depend on every day, including the use of recovered paper fiber for the manufacture of a variety of products," Gagliardi said. "International Paper is committed to raising public awareness about the value of recycling all kinds of paper products, and communities benefit when we can partner with a customer like Time Inc. to pursue this common goal." David Refkin, director of sustainable development at Time Inc., said, "We're excited to be part of this effort to promote and increase the recycling of magazines in Prince George's County and the greater Washington metro area. This initiative ties into the primary goals of sustainable development -- economic and environmental sustainability and social responsibility. Prince George's County will save money, and waste will be diverted from the landfill and recycled into new paper products. Additionally, Prince George's County will be playing a leadership role in finding creative methods to increase the benefits of recycling." "Supporting our readers and their communities has been one of our core values since the magazine was founded," said Ed Lewis, publisher of ESSENCE magazine and chairman and CEO of Essence Communications, Inc., a joint venture with Time Inc. "ESSENCE's readers care about their environment. In addition, a growing number of advertisers have been promoting their environmental efforts in our magazines and in other titles. Recycling is just one way to improve the livability of our communities, Lewis said. "ESSENCE is proud to be associated with this partnership to increase the recycling of magazines in Prince George's County." The partnership members developed public service advertisements to encourage curbside recycling of magazines and catalogs. The ads, which will appear in various magazines including TIME and Sports Illustrated, specifically target Prince George's County and other Washington, D.C. metro area residents. This targeting capability is due thanks to Media Networks Inc., a marketer of local advertising in national magazines. Prince George's County will continue to promote public awareness of magazine and catalog recycling through outreach activities to residents. "Recycle America Alliance is pleased to be a partner in this effort," said Steve Ragiel, president of Recycle America Alliance, LLC, a subsidiary of Waste Management, Inc. "As the country's largest recycler, we look forward to being involved in this public-private partnership and view it as another venue for us to raise awareness about the benefits of recycling and environmental stewardship." The partners will measure the recovery of magazines and catalogs throughout the region. The county will work to help residents take advantage of this convenient disposal of used reading material that can be recycled into newspapers or other paper products. International Paper, the National Recycling Coalition and Time Inc. will showcase the ReMix program as a pilot for other U.S. cities and towns. Currently, paper represents about 65 percent of the residential tonnage that is recycled by Prince George's County. However, with magazines and catalogs making up less than 6 percent of the paper tonnage, the ReMix partners see a clear opportunity to create an exemplary program that other localities will want to emulate. The progress of the ReMix program will be presented in late August at the 23rd Annual National Recycling Coalition Congress and Exposition in San Francisco. For more information on the Prince George's County ReMix program or to learn more about magazine and catalog recycling, call 301-883-5045. About the partners: Time Inc.'s more than 130 magazines reach total audiences of more than 300 million readers. In 2003, the company's magazines accounted for nearly a quarter of the total advertising revenue of U.S. consumer magazines. PEOPLE, Sports Illustrated and TIME were ranked one, three and four in ad revenue respectively. ESSENCE magazine is the pre-eminent lifestyle magazine for African-American women. In October 2000, Essence Communications, Inc. signed an agreement with Time Inc. to form a joint venture known as Essence Communications Partners. Essence is the majority owner of the venture. Time Inc. is a wholly owned subsidiary of Time Warner Inc., the world's leading media and entertainment company. Its businesses include interactive services, cable systems, films and entertainment, television networks, and publishing. For more information, visit the Time Inc. Web site at http://www.timewarner.com/ . Founded in 1978, the National Recycling Coalition, Inc. (NRC) is a nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization representing all the diverse interests committed to the common goal of maximizing recycling to achieve the benefits of resource conservation, solid waste reduction, environmental protection, energy conservation, and social and economic development. Its 4,000 members include recycling and environmental organizations; large and small businesses; federal, state and local governments; and individuals. The NRC is dedicated to the advancement and technical information, education, training, outreach and advocacy services to its members in order to conserve resources and benefit the environment. For additional information about the NRC, please visit http://www.nrc-recycle.org/. International Paper (http://www.internationalpaper.com/) is the world's largest paper and forest products company. Businesses include paper, packaging and forest products. As one of the largest private forest landowners in the world, the company manages its forests under the principles of the Sustainable Forestry Initiative(R) (SFI) program, a system that ensures the continual planting, growing and harvesting of trees while protecting wildlife, plants, soil, air and water quality. Headquartered in the United States, International Paper has operations in over 40 countries and sells its products in more than 120 nations. Recycle America Alliance, LLC, a subsidiary of Waste Management, Inc., is North America's largest recycler, currently handling 8 million tons of commodities annually through a nationwide network of 140 recycling facilities. As a one-stop resource, Recycle America provides a comprehensive range of services: materials collection, optical sorting through single-stream processing technology, facilities management, program development, brokerage services and price-stabilizing risk management tools. Recycle America's leadership is a product of its unique combination of financial stability, industry knowledge, advanced technologies and market relationships that combine to deliver more affordable and adaptable service options. County Executive Jack B. Johnson has always been an advocate for recycling and has made it a priority during his administration. Prince George's County http://www.goprincegeorgescounty.com/ built its recycling program from a pilot program serving five communities in 1989 to a weekly curbside collection that serves approximately 155,000 households. Residential recycling opportunities are also available through the multifamily recycling program and the condominium recycling program. Yard waste, which includes grass, leaves and small brush, is collected curbside once a week from April 15 through January 15 and taken to the County's Western Branch Composting Facility, where it is made into compost. As part of the yard waste collection program, Christmas trees are collected, processed into pine mulch at the composting site and given away to county residents at an event held in the spring. During 2003, the county collected over 81,000 tons of yard waste, which included approximately 360 tons of Christmas trees. Prince George's County was one of the first jurisdictions in the Washington metropolitan area to have a permanent site for electronics recycling. Approximately 56 tons of televisions, fax machines, telephones, CD players, VCRs, copiers, pagers, monitors, computers and computer equipment were collected for recycling during 2003. Citizens and residents recycled over 37,000 gallons of paint, motor oil, antifreeze, brake fluids, pesticides, household cleaners and chemicals at the household hazardous waste collection site. In addition to recycling opportunities at the permanent household hazardous waste site, the county also hosts collection days for hazardous waste in targeted areas throughout the county. At the Brown Station Road Landfill, tires and appliances are collected for recycling and reuse. Prince George's County offers technical support to businesses starting a recycling program and operates a recycling program in county government buildings. http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20020701/IPLOGODATASOURCE: International Paper CONTACT: Carol Terry of Prince George's County, +1-301-883-5961; or Kate Krebs of the National Recycling Coalition, Inc., +1-202-347-0450, ext. 23; or Peter Costiglio of Time Inc, +1-212-522-3927; or Kathi Rowzie of International Paper, +1-901-419-4086; or Heather Browne of Recycle America Alliance, LLC, +1-713-265-1514 Web site: http://www.internationalpaper.com/ http://www.goprincegeorgescounty.com/ http://www.nrc-recycle.org/ http://www.timewarner.com/

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