Less noise, more impact: seven steps to achieve our social and environmental goals
4 minute readSince the foundation of Librio in 2017, our goal is to create products that make families across the world happy. Equally important for us is to live up to our responsibility towards the planet on which we live and towards the society we are part of. Our social and environmental commitment has been deeply rooted in our corporate values since day one. We’re aware that no new product can be 100 percent environmentally friendly. Where production takes place, energy is needed, supply chains are set in motion and waste is also produced. But we as a company can ensure that the burden is kept as low as possible.
In this blog post, we want to show how we put our social and environmental principles into practice.
In diesem Blogbeitrag möchten wir zeigen, wie wir unsere sozialen und ökologischen Prinzipien in die Tat umsetzen.
1. Print on Demand
The most environmentally friendly element of our book production is the fact that we only produce to order. Each of our books is unique and designed for a specific person, so we can avoid a lot of waste.
We place high demands on the quality of our products, both in terms of content and material. Our robust design ensures that our books last a long time. Our goal is to develop products that are robust enough to survive a person’s life, but not so indestructible as to outlast the life of a planet. Except for the book cover, our books can be recycled.
2. Shorter delivery routes thanks to local printing partners
Of course, logistics also plays an important role in the life cycle assessment, which is why we print locally in all our main markets. We work with print partners in Switzerland, Germany, the UK, Australia and the USA.
3. More than a book
Our campaign “More than a book” is an important part of Librio. More than one book means that we donate 1% of our turnover (not profit) to ecological and social projects. We work together with “Room to Read”. In addition to building libraries in developing countries, the work of this charity focuses on promoting reading and equality in school education. We’re thrilled to have already been able to donate over 360,000 books to the “Room to Read” libraries.
Through this joint venture, the book “Welcome to school” was created in 2020. The illustrations are by artists from Nepal, India, Jordan, South Africa, Vietnam and Honduras. These are all countries in which “Room to Read” is committed to literacy and equality in school education.
In addition to the cooperation with “Room to Read”, we also donate an amount to our partner organization Trees for the Future for each book sold. We have been able to plant more than 300,000 trees together. More information about our campaign “More than a Book” can be found on our website.
4. 100% recycled paper
Since day one, Librio’s been printing on 100% recycled paper. When the largest manufacturer of recycled paper left the market in 2019, we worked for months on finding high-quality alternatives – with success!
We use the recycled paper not only for all books, but also for advertising materials including business cards, etc.
5. Less paper thanks to the removal of the end sheets
If you take a traditionally bound book out of the shelf and open it, you’ll probably notice that it contains empty pages in the front and back that enclose the contents of the book. These pages are called end sheets. Thanks to modern binding techniques, however, it is possible to create a bound book without end sheets without compromising on quality. We made this change in November 2020, saving four pages per book. So far, we’ve been able to save around 6 tons of paper.
6. No foiling
If you buy a book in a bookstore, you often get it in a plastic cover, which is supposed to protect the book. That’s why we designed our packaging so that the book is as well protected as possible without plastic.
7. Eco-friendly packaging
Our initial efforts to produce 100% recycled packaging were disappointing. We tested many materials that unfortunately could not stand up to what they promised. Our manufacturers then told us that packaging made of 100% recycled material would never be strong enough without a strong outer layer of virgin fiber. Since the environment is important to us, we didn’t accept this response and looked for a new manufacturer. And that’s how we ended up with Brieger Verpackungen from Switzerland. They’ve taken the trouble to find the highest quality recycled materials for us and produce packaging that not only looks good, but is stable enough to safely carry three hardcover books. Brieger also removed the plastic opening strip, which means that our packaging has been 100% recycled and plastic-free since 2020.
These seven elements of our social and environmental commitment are just the beginning; the beginning of a continuous learning process. We’re convinced that we’re on the right track – but far from reaching our goal! After all, there’s still room for further developments and innovations. We care about making our products and processes even better. We look forward to continuing to work towards our goal of becoming the most sustainable family brand and thank all those who support us in this.