Following its support of the DMA Insert Council project regarding the complementary value of inserts with online media, Polestar Sheffield has teamed up with Lateral Group to establish the number of inserts manufactured and supplied to the end user without carrying any form of recycling logo or message. This latest initiative is in response to the Council's commitment to meeting environmental demands set out by DEFRA and to encourage advertisers to relay a clear message to their consumers that their paper product is environmentally friendly and should therefore be recycled responsibly after use.

Together Polestar Sheffield and Lateral Group conducted a survey across their own businesses during the first nine months of 2009. A total volume audit exceeding one billion inserts revealed that only 11 per cent of all printed inserts carried any environmental message or recycling logo. Their findings also revealed that just 15 per cent of advertisers made any reference to the fact that their inserted printed literature could be recycled.

Jeff White of Polestar Sheffield says: "With inserts' proven record of delivering very high sales results to an advertiser, the advertising and printing industries have a responsibility to insure that they play their full part in maintaining the recycling equilibrium. We can either oversee 'good practice' ourselves or wait for imposed financial penalising measures implemented by DEFRA. In an already difficult sector this would not be an appealing option or prospect."

Jeff White and Nick Barbeary, Lateral Group Sales Director, have now been tasked by the DMA Insert Council to increase the awareness of the environmental responsibility of the printers, publishers and creative agencies to insure that all printed inserted literature carries an appropriate environmental logo or message.