Process

PREPS is a membership based organisation comprising of twenty-three members from around the world.

The members ask the PREPS Secretariat to add new papers to the database that they are using or are interested in using.

PREPS makes contact with mills directly and asks for technical specifications and forest source information for the papers.

Once the data is provided by the mills the papers are added to the database and graded.

Publishers are able to use the database to compare papers on both technical specifications and PREPS grading, and then use this to guide their purchasing decisions.

Read the full process document to find out more.

Carbon and Water

In addition to grading papers by forest source PREPS is now asking the mills which produce the pulp and paper to disclose data on their Carbon and Water consumption.

The aim is to provide members with a more rounded picture of the environmental impact of their supply chain and to inform the paper buying decision-making process. It enables them to compare environmental performance between mills posing questions such as: What are the associated CO2 emissions from the on-site manufacturing process? How much water is consumed in processing the pulp or paper? Is water scarcity an issue in the region where the mill is located? What quantity of pollutants is being returned to the water source at the end of the processing cycle?

Many of the mills already collect this data in one format or another so the intention is for PREPS to harness its role as a centralised database and provide key data comparison points in a readily accessible format to its members.

Further information can be found in the respective process documents for both Carbon and Water.