dorling kindersley books

PREPS: Publishers Database For Responsible Environmental Paper Sourcing. This database contains all the pulp sourcing information for each paper that can be gathered. The papers are then graded from 1 star to 5 star.

Each star grading for PREPS stands for:

1 Star – Unknown or unwanted material.

2 Star – Under review, incomplete data.

3 Star – Of legal origin, from sustainable, well managed resources.

4 Star – Making progress, 10% is FSC or recycled.

5 Star – Recycled (100% Post Consumer Waste) or FSC certified

FSC: FSC (Forest Stewardship Council) have a set of minimum standards to ensure that the paper is from well managed sources that must be met before paper can be labelled FSC. The paper must be from legal sources, not from an area with outstanding disputes with indigenous peoples, not from an area which is uncertified and of high conservation value, and also the paper must contain no genetically managed material. It must be demonstrated from source to end product that these standards have been met, which means that the forest the pulp comes from must meet this standard and that thereafter the chain of custody of that stock must be upheld right to the end product. In our case that’s the books but it could be for a garden chair or a wardrobe or any other wood based product.

ICTI: International Council of Toy Industries. The toy industry has had a strong presence in China for over two decades and ICTI set up the CARE (Caring, Awareness, Responsible, Ethical) process to third party assess manufacturers and is aimed at ensuring a safe and humane working environment for the workers.

ISO14001: ISO 14001 is an internationally recognised Environmental Management System (EMS). All companies that have this have assessed their energy use and impact on the environment and set themselves targets for reduction and improvement which must then be met and which are third party audited.

EMAS: ECO Management and Audit Scheme is a type of auditing system similar to that of ISO14001.

Forest Trade Network (FTN): this was founded in conjunction with the WWF-UK in 1991, originally named the WWF 1995 Group, and with 20 participating companies. Its members' vision was to ensure that their timber and paper supplies came from well managed forests, and did not contribute to forest destruction and illegal logging practices.

Since its launch, the WWF-UK FTN has become widely recognised as a successful partnership between WWF and business - a partnership that promotes and progresses responsible management of the world's forests. is a stakeholder group set up by the WWF to talk about shared issues on the environment. Issues raised include safe forestry and the differences between certification schemes.

PRELIMS stands for The Publishers’ Resolution for Ethical International Manufacturing Standards. This is a group which exists for publishers that have come together to talk about CSR elements of printing in the Far Est, which has lead to ICTI being used as an auditing system for publishers as well as toy manufacturers.