From the Publisher

By Louis A. Weil III

Last year, after we selected Endangered Earth as Planet of the Year, we received scores of letters from readers asking what we as a company were doing for the environment. The answer is that after studying alternatives and talking with the Council on the Environment of New York City, the Time Inc. Magazine Co. has started its own recycling program for bottles, cans and paper. Throughout the Time & Life Building in New York City, staff members are chipping in to help make our environment a cleaner, more enjoyable place.

One of the most inspiring features of the program is that individuals are volunteering their labor. From coordinator Eileen Wolmer, a purchasing agent for the Time Inc. Magazine Co., to the 33 floor captains in charge of educating their colleagues about recycling, to the cleaning crews who dispose of the trash, no one is being paid extra for helping out.

Our recycling effort includes high-grade paper, glass bottles and aluminum cans. Employees place their discarded paper into durable gray folders on their desks. When the folders are full, staffers empty them into special bins located on each floor. Bottles and cans are deposited in separate containers. The proceeds from the recycled paper will help defray the program's costs, and the money earned from the cans and bottles goes to We Can, an organization that helps the homeless.

"The response has been terrific," Wolmer says. "The first week we found a lot of other garbage in the bins, but by the second week, everyone seemed to understand how to separate trash." Wolmer hopes to include newspapers; at the moment, however, most recycling plants in New York City cannot handle more newsprint. Magazines pose a different problem. In printing TIME, we cannot currently use stock that contains more than 7% recycled paper; anything more and our high-speed printers would shred the magazine to pieces. However, as recycling technology improves, we aim to increase that percentage.

We are also recycling what we learn: several firms in Manhattan have already called Wolmer to find out how to start their own programs. They will discover, as we did, that the campaign requires only a little extra effort, but the results are well worth it.