Here is what our
companies are doing to make relaxing and having fun more sustainable:
Virtual & tangible entertainment
CO2
REDUCTION
Just as Virgin Media is enabling low carbon forms of communication (as described in Staying in Touch page 40) it will increasingly make a contribution to reducing the environmental impact of buying music. In a government white paper comparing the carbon footprint and energy usage associated with various forms of music delivery, from CDs sold at retail to CDs sold on the internet to simple downloads, downloads were shown to have by far the least environmental impact. Purchasing music online reduced CO2 emissions by 40-80%, compared with buying a CD at retail1
40-80%
account all facets, from packaging to the type of shipping involved). Virgin Media has partnered with Universal Music to provide an unlimited MP3 music download subscription service to its broadband customers.
Downloading material is, of course, not confined to music and we have recently witnessed the development of e-books. Although there aren’t many e-readers on the market yet, they have the potential to revolutionise the industry and Virgin Books now offers its new titles as e-books wherever possible. At present Virgin Books’ greatest impacts are the energy used to produce and transport the books alongside the source
of its paper. Virgin Books is part of the Random House Group which was the first publisher in the world to get the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) chain of custody certification . Currently over 75% of the paper it purchases is FSC accredited2
, and for the next two years all of its (the research took into
black and white books will be printed on FSC accredited paper . Virgin Books is also working with other large industry players to resolve the complex issue of stock management in retailers, to prevent books being overstocked and then later pulped. Virgin Books now prints closely to the orders it receives and if books are returned and pulped the paper is recycled into newsprint.
Virgin Books makes positive social contributions through its significant involvement in literacy programmes, by means of its partnerships with Quick Reads and World Book Day. It donates books to a wide variety of charities with donations ranging from large consignments to Book Aid, The National Literacy Trust and The Roald Dahl Library to smaller one-off donations of single boxes of books to local charities and small fundraising initiatives. Virgin Books also runs a volunteer reading scheme which allows employees paid time away from work, to volunteer in London schools to help improve children’s literacy skills.
Chain of Custody tracks certified timber through every stage in the supply chain from the forest to the final user. Having FSC Chain of Custody does not mean that all the papers it uses is FSC certified but it shows it has procedures in place that prevent mixing of FSC and non-FSC paper. It is a third party verified system – it has been audited on these procedures by BMTRADA and will be audited again at least every six months to ensure it is following procedures correctly (audits can take place at any time).
Forest Stewardship Council
is an international, non-governmental organisation dedicated to promoting responsible management of the world’s forests. It is supported by NGOs including WWF, Greenpeace and the Woodland Trust.
Virgin Media uses its expertise and passion to discover hidden talent by encouraging and developing young people through its competition Virgin Media Shorts. This is a unique competition to find the brightest, undiscovered film-making talent in the UK and has been a huge success so far with over 2,000 film entries. Its efforts to nurture talented young musicians also continues to gather pace through the Road to V competition, which gave exciting new bands the chance to compete to become the first act on stage at the V Festival.
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Random House is FSC certified under FSC certificate TT-COC-002139. FSC trademark © 1996 Forest Stewardship Council A.C.
FSC UK (www.fsc-uk.org), FSC International website (www.fsc.org)
1. Source: “The Energy and Climate Change Impacts of Different Music Delivery Method August 2009
2. Certified by the Forest Stewardship Council for paper from sustainable sources
Virgin Media Shorts
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