For the moment, in Quebec, the majority of new books sent to the pestle come back to life in the form of cardboard packaging or toilet paper. But the material, which could not be cleaner, is eyeing recycling companies.
Tania Massault, president of the Special Committee on Book Ecology at the National Association of Book Publishers, has launched a pilot project to upgrade the pestle through a Rolland processing center, a subsidiary of Sustana.
The idea? Promote the circular economy by creating paper fiber, then printable paper, from pounded books. Other centres, such as Recyclage Vanier in Quebec City, offer similar solutions. “Paper fiber can be reused six to seven times,” says Ms.me Massault.
If the pestle currently represents an expense for publishers – they pay the processing time to distributors – the upgrading of recycled books could eventually bring in some money.
According to Karel Ménard, of the Quebec Common Front for Ecological Waste Management, we must keep in mind that recycling paper “is not a panacea”. It “also causes environmental problems, whether in terms of water use or de-inking. Above all, it is necessary to avoid unnecessary production of goods”.
Reduce at source
Éditions Écosociété, among other houses, make it a point of honor to avoid waste thanks to “constant monitoring of stocks in bookstores and at the distributor”, explains Kevin Cordeau, production manager. The ecological company is betting on small inaugural print runs. “And we can reprint as and when the book works more than expected,” he says. From a technical point of view, it is made possible thanks to digital printing, a bit like our office printers do, but at the power of 50.”
We try to keep print runs realistic and target booksellers to avoid bombarding the market. We are not in a perspective of bestsellers. We prefer to sell less and draw the plogue when the draw is over.
Jasmin Miville-Allard, Managing Director of Moult Editions
But for small publishers, this caution comes at a cost. ” For fuck the world, by Simon-Pierre Beaudet, we had printed 600 copies and we must have sold more than 2,000. That means a lot of small reprints. The book did not generate much money. »
More and more publishers, notes Tania Massault, are also betting on eco-design, which aims to reduce the ecological footprint of a book at the very beginning of the chain. “The good news is that the room for improvement is quite exceptional,” she notes.
Sell at a discount
Publishers who are struggling with an exaggerated quantity of the same book may decide to sell it at a discount. “A cookbook, for example, there is always a price where it will end up coming out,” notes Marc-André Audet, founder and boss of Les Malins editions.
Discount superstores like Walmart, Costco, Giant Tiger or Dollarama accounted for 8% of book sales in Quebec in 2020, according to the Observatory of Culture and Communications of Quebec.
Some surplus books are outright given away as gifts, such as when a reader purchases another work at a fair or salon. That said, a work that has raised no interest at full price risks suffering the same fate even at a reduced price.
PHOTO ÉRICK LABBÉ, LE SOLEIL ARCHIVES
A work that has raised no interest at full price risks suffering the same fate even at a reduced price.
We’d rather sell our books to discounters than throw them away, but a novel that doesn’t work, even if I give it away, it won’t be read.
Marc-André Audet, founder and boss of Les Malins editions
In most publishing contracts, a clause provides that authors can buy back books intended for sale at a discount or for destruction. The author will pay the contemplated sale price or ramming cost, if any. He can then try to market his work himself.
(Over)store
Publishers always have the choice of storing their unsold books ad vitam æternam, but “overstocking” has a significant financial and environmental cost.
“To have overstocks, these are labor costs, inventory, financial statements, observes Nadine Perreault, general manager of Diffusion Dimedia. In general, once a year, we clean up with each publisher. And it happens, for poor sales, that the publisher is advised to pound. »
In France, it would be financially more advantageous for the publisher to reprint a work than to keep it in stock, showed a WWF study in 2019. However, publishers, with the help of sponsors, are working more and more on the valuation of their catalog of funds.
A balance must therefore be struck between the availability of a large stock and the waste of space and money at the distributors. Their pruning suggestions sometimes lead to “difficult discussions”, admits Mr. Audet, from Les Malins. “But we always end up agreeing on something. »
PHOTO BERNARD BRAULT, PRESS ARCHIVES
Institutional libraries in Quebec are required to buy their stock “at current price” from accredited bookstores, under penalty of fines.
Encourage organizations
Publishing houses offer their faded books to various organizations, for example community libraries, notes Kevin Cordeau, production manager at Écosociété.
Tania Massault is more critical of the philanthropic practice of sending new books from Quebec to developing countries free of charge.
“I have a big discomfort because it’s a bit colonialist as a gift. Not only are there all the greenhouse gases emitted during transport, but there is also a lack of respect for local production there. How do you expect a Senegalese publisher, for example, to promote its inventory if all the literacy organizations around it receive donations from abroad? »
To avoid a devaluation of the work of the authors, the institutional libraries of Quebec are also required to buy their stock “at the current price” from approved bookstores, under penalty of fines.
Contrary to what we wrote in an earlier version of this text, the director general of the Quebec Common Front for ecological waste management is Karel Ménard and not Karel Mayrand. Our apologies.