Embracing Groundwood Paper: The Next Step in Sustainable Publishing at Broken Keys Publishing & Press

At Broken Keys Publishing & Press the environment matters.

We launched our Sustainable Publishing initiative in the Spring of 2024 (and was acknowledged for it, winning The 2025 Ottawa Awards for Best Green Initiative).

Now, Sustainable Publishing's next step will be the adoption and use of groundwood paper through our Print-on-Demand and worldwide distribution.

Now that we are in a position to offer Groundwood paper, we will be migrating a large portion of our Print-on-Demand titles over time.

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What is Groundwood Paper?

Groundwood paper is a cost-effective, textured paper manufactured using mechanical pulping—where wood logs are physically ground down into fibers rather than broken down with chemicals. Known for its thickness, high opacity, and grayish-white or off-white hue, it is commonly used for mass-market paperbacks, newspapers, and pulp magazines.

Some if its characteristics include,

Texture & Bulk: Because it retains more lignin and natural wood fibers, it yields a thicker, bulkier book without adding extra weight.

High Opacity: Its thickness prevents heavy show-through, making it excellent for printing text on both sides of the page.

Eco-Friendly: Because mechanical pulping utilizes the entire tree with minimal waste, it is often touted as a lower-carbon, environmentally conscious printing option (reducing up to 15% of carbon).

It is environmentally friendlier because it uses more of the tree and therefore less trees are needed. The manufacturing process generally uses less chemicals, and the lower production costs can translate into lower resource consumption.

What are the direct benefits?

Outside of the environmental benefits, it is also a lower-cost alternative on a few fronts.

Typically it can lower printing costs (around 5%) and the Groundwood paper is lighter, creating a slightly lighter book that can reduce shipping costs.

(Note to BKP authors and potentially new BKP authors: Not all titles and/or books are good candidates for Groundwood paper. For example, books with high colour pictures will not transition over).