As a publishing group, paper consumption and the management of the life cycle of paper products are major factors in the assessment of environmental impacts for Mondadori, especially considering the strategic focus placed in recent years on the Company’s Books business.

The life cycle of paper products starts in paper mills, where paper is manufactured and then sent to the printing companies that print the products. Printed paper products are stored in warehouses and dispatched, through a logistics network, for delivery to distributors and end consumers.

Once a book or magazine is in the hands of a reader, the life cycle of paper products can take one of three turns:

  • the book or magazine remains in the reader’s home and may be re-used (e.g., re-read, given as a gift, donated to schools and/or libraries);
  • the book or magazine is collected as waste paper for recycling, thus becoming valuable raw material that can be reused as pulp by paper mills;
  • the book or magazine is collected as general waste.

Around paper, its production and its use, a very articulated supply chain develops, with important impacts also for the environment. For many years the production industry, the paper mills, have been at the forefront to transform the production cycle in sustainable ways, also thanks to international bodies whose mission is the protection of forests – paper is produced from the cellulose of trees – such as FCS, PEFC and Greenpeace.

As publishers, in response to Greenpeace’s invitation in 2010, we are committed to using certified paper throughout our production. We have joined the initiative launched to companies in the Italian paper industry to safeguard primary forests. In particular, we have undertaken to define a path to progressively increase over time the percentage of “forest friendly” paper.
In this sense, the data for the period 2010 – 2022 testify our commitment to progressively increase the sustainability of all our publishing houses.

See chapter 4 of our Consolidated Non-Financial Statement for further details.