How Green is the Globe?

Since reading tips about being more environmentally friendly in a newspaper printed on chopped-down trees is a little bit like getting child-care advice from Britney Spears, we knew we could not produce this week's issue of the Globe Magazine without explaining what our own company is doing to reduce waste and use its energy more wisely. To be sure, there is a lot happening here. And, to be sure, there is plenty more to be done.

Printing the Boston Globe for a full year requires about 68,000 tons of paper. On average, the paper used by all of the publications owned by the New York Times Co., including the Globe, is made of approximately 26 percent recycled fiber.

The Globe uses environmentally friendly soy-based inks to print its color pages. Waste ink is recycled or incinerated.

Ninety-three percent of solid waste produced by the Globe is recycled, including waste paper in offices, press-rooms, and printing plants.

The Globe recycles the aluminum plates used in the printing process.

The New York Times Co. requires that its newsprint suppliers use virgin paper-fiber plant saplings and conduct aerial and terrestrial seeding. One major supplier plants approximately 60 million saplings a year.

The Globe will begin testing biodiesel fuel in its delivery trucks over the next few months.

The Globe is delivered to homes in recyclable bags.

The Globe runs an employee shuttle to and from the JFK/UMass T stop and allows employees to purchase Charlie Cards on a pretax basis to save money.

The Globe is setting goals to reduce the amount of office paper it uses in 2008 and to increase the amount of office paper, plastic, and glass it recycles.

Styrofoam, paper cups, and plastics will be used less or eliminated in the Globe's cafeteria, and employees are being encouraged to drink from reusable coffee mugs.

Over the last 20 years, the Globe has worked to reduce its energy consumption by installing motion sensors and energy-efficient lighting and converting to more efficient heating and air-conditioning systems.

The Globe plans to install new water dispensers to help reduce the use of individual plastic water bottles.