As the Magazine Turns Karen Perez As our ongoing "pulp opera" continues, our intrepid magazine is recuperating from its face lift. It has received many flowers, a few get well cards and (to date) only two "we want a divorce....." Cut to commercial.....Are you asking yourself just what the heck those crazy folks at Home Power are up to? Totally confused? Tune in to issue #34 .(page 5) to find out why we're using coated paper and why it is not as environmentally nasty as you thought. To learn a little bit more about the mysterious world of OMGs, recycled paper, and one fine printer stay tuned. New Printer, New Friends Therese, Richard and I trekked to New Richmond, Wisconsin to meet the friendly folks at St. Croix Press, our new printers. We spent three days seeing and learning. and oohing and aahing. We got help learning the ends and outs of electronic pre-press, seeing BIG presses and binding equipment in operation and meeting the people who will be helping us put ink to paper. The folks at St Croix do things right! St. Croix prints almost 200 magazines. While we were there we saw several publications being printed and bound, and racks of previously printed publications. They all looked great! St. Croix has installed scrubbers on their printing presses so that their printing plant emits no pollution. They recycle all of the preconsumer waste paper generated when magazines are trimmed. They like what they do and it shows. What you're holding What you're holding is 50% recycled. The cover paper is 20% recycled postconsumer, 30% preconsumer paper. Unfortunately, 75% postconsumer non-chlorine paper is not available in a weight that's heavy enough to survive the mails - yet. The good news (or so the paper people tell me) is that very soon it will be. The interior paper is also 50% recycled,- 10% postconsumer, 40% preconsumer. We'd love to be able to use 75% postconsumer paper on the interior paper but our "green paper" won't stretch that far. What's an OMG? Recently the Paper Stock Institute (a division of the Scrap Recycling Industries) has given OMGs (old magazines - clay coated paper) a class of its own. OMGs are no longer the orphan of the paper recycling industry. Why? Because people are demanding more recycled paper products and less environmentally damaging manufacturing methods. So more recycled paper mills are being built and more high quality postconsumer waste paper is needed Another reason is because the clay in the coating is used by the recycled paper mills in the deinking process. There's actually a shortage of OMGs in parts of the U.S. One Oregon paper mill is having to bring in OMGs from as far away as Texas to meet its demand. In 1991 390,000 tons of OMGs were used by 13 mills in the U.S. This year that number is up to 19 mills requiring 579,000 tons of OMGs. The projected need after 1995 are 30 paper mills that will need 1,338,000 tons of old magazines to make everything from more magazines to critter bedding. So folks, it's time for us to educate our local recyclers about the growing demand for OMGs, use as much recycled paper as we can, and recycle those old magazines. I gleaned most of the above info from the recycling industry's "trade" pub, Resource Recycling. We first saw Resource Recycling when St. Croix Press (our new printer) sent us a copy as an example of their printing. What a find. We liked the paper that they are printed on so much that we decided to use it for our interior paper. Resource Recycling covers all aspects of commercial recycling from batteries to composting landfill organic waste A great info source for recycling nerds. Zip-a-dee-doo-da The last few months have been exhilarating, exhausting and exciting. The deed is done, we've learned a lot and even made new friends. Home Power might look like some megamag out of New York; it's a trick of the eye. We still live and work eight miles up a four wheel drive road - no pedestrian crosswalks, no stop lights. The traffic here are deer, mice, skunks, bobcats, squirrels, coyotes and toady frogs. The only lights we see at night are the stars and the renewable energy powered lights from our windows. Access Author: Karen Perez, c/o Home Power, POB 520, Ashland, OR 97520 ù 916-475-3179 Info on recycling: Resource Recycling, POB 10540, Portland, OR 97210, 503-227-1319