Newspaper distribution process yields substantial negative effects on the society and natural environment. Hautanen et al. (2009) stated that only 30% of print media (i.e., magazines and newspapers) are actually sold whereby the remaining 70% are wasted and often sent to the landfill. This means that every unit of printed media has 70% probability of being unsold.
Those unsold products consume approximately 2.45 million trees per annum. Moreover, every tonne of paper produced requires approximately 98 tonnes of other resources. Clearly, printed products negatively affect society and environment due to the substantial emission of pollution during their life cycle. Hautanen et al. (2009) further stated that every metric tonne of printed
17 media releases approximately 1.17 metric tonnes of CO2, of which 61% stem from paper mill emissions, 16% from the final fate (i.e. incineration and landfill), 2% form forest management and harvesting, 8% from transportation and distribution, 8% from transportation of wood fibres and clay to paper mill, 4% from printing, and 1% from transportation of paper to the printer . Detail distribution is presented in Figure 2.4.
Figure 2.4: CO2 emission contribution from production and distribution of print media
Literature highlights environmental issues arising from newspaper production. Moberg et al.
(2010) illustrated environmental effects arising from the production and distribution of printed newspapers in Europe in general, with a specific focus on Sweden. In Europe, the newspaper production and distribution are responsible for approximately 45% of the global warming, which is significantly higher than 30% in Sweden. The total annual CO2 equivalent (CO2e) emissions are estimated at 28 kg CO2e in Europe. This amount comprises 3 kg CO2e from editorial operations, 12 kg CO2e from paper production, 2 kg CO2e from paper transportation, 2 kg CO2e from prepress, 3 kg CO2e from printing, 3 kg CO2e from newspaper distribution and 3 kg CO2e from newspaper disposal. Sweden on the other hand experiences annual estimate of 20 kg CO2e, of which 1 kg CO2e is due to editorial operations, 6 kg CO2e from paper production, 1 kg CO2e from paper transportation, 2 kg CO2e from prepress, 3 kg CO2e from printing, 6 kg CO2e from newspaper distribution and 1 kg CO2e from newspaper disposal (Figure 2.5). Therefore, CO2 emission as well as others such as water pollution, visual pollution, odour pollution and solid waste must be eliminated from newspaper distribution process to improving social and environmental sustainability.
Forest management and harvesting Transportation of wood fiber and clay to papermill
Papermill
Transportation of paper to printer Printing
Transportation and distribution Final fate
18 Figure 2.5: The printed newspaper global warming potential in Europe and Sweden 2.5.2 Economic sustainability
Production and distribution functions are one of the core business processes of the newspaper industry.(Mantel & Fontein 1993; Russell, Chiang & Zepeda 2008). Newspaper companies could improve its competitive advantage, services and profitability by improving feasibility, flexibility, efficiency, viability, and reliability of its production and distribution operations.
(Chiang et al. 2009). Eraslan and Dery (2010) claimed that newspapers have at most 24 hours lifetime. Thus, the faster the distribution process, the better the customer satisfaction and competitive advantage of the newspaper provider. The main challenges of newspaper distribution involve the minimization of the costs incurred by distribution operations while delivering the right edition to the drop-off points or directly to the reader on time (Hurter &
Van Buer 1996). However, the authors further state that newspapers are perishable goods and would cause economic loss if distributed and delivered late. Bohnlein et al. (2009) argued that effective distribution can prevent economic loss associated with perishable products like newspaper.
Total Editorial
Paper producti
on
Paper transport
ation
Prepress Printing
Newspa per distribut
ion
Disposal
European 28 3 12 2 2 3 3 3
Sweden 20 1 6 1 2 3 6 1
0 5 10 15 20 25 30
Kilogram CO2 equivalent/ year
19 Scholars have proposed solutions to the aforementioned issues, mostly addressing the vehicle routing problem (VRP) through optimization and heuristics search methods (Bohnlein, Gahm
& Tuma 2009). VRP identifies the shortest route of drop-off and pick-up (Mantel & Fontein 1993), focuses on minimising transportation time and cost (Eraslan & Derya 2010; Garcia, Centeno & Penaloza 1999), and improvement of customer satisfaction through on-time delivery. For the Thailand newspaper industry, Boonkleaw et al. (2009) studied vehicle routing problem with time window (VRPTW) by employing VRP model. The outcome was reduced distribution cost of morning newspaper delivery without exceeding truck capacity and breaching time constraints.
Thus, the majority of extant literature focused on solving vehicle routing problem in order to minimize distribution costs, truck usage, route and distance, while improving service level and customer satisfaction. However, the issues of newspaper distribution process through freight consolidation management, horizontal cooperation (i.e. co-opetition), and collaborative newspaper distribution and their effects on sustainability are less researched and are hardly documented.