New Potter book goes easy on trees

The printing for the final Harry Potter book will not only be the biggest, but also the greenest.

Scholastic Inc. announced last week that it had agreed with the Rainforest Alliance on tightened environmental standards for “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows,” coming out July 21 with a record first printing of 12 million.

J.K. Rowling’s seventh Potter book will be a hulking 784 pages, Scholastic said, a comparable length to the last couple of releases in the series.

Among the details of the environmental agreement:

“The paper used will contain “a minimum of 30 percent post-consumer waste (pcw) fiber.”

“Nearly two-thirds of the 16,700 tons of paper will be approved by the Forest Stewardship Council, an international organization with a mission to “promote environmentally responsible, socially beneficial and economically viable management of the world’s forests.”

“A $65 “deluxe” edition of the new book, featuring enhanced art and a special slipcase, will be printed on paper that contains “100 percent post-consumer waste fiber.”

“Many of the Harry Potter fans worldwide have been able to enjoy the books on FSC-certified paper, and it’s great news that Ms. Rowling’s American readers can enjoy the final installment of Harry Potter while playing a part in responsible forest management,” a Greenpeace spokesman said.

In 2005, when “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince” came out with an initial printing of 10.8 million copies, Greenpeace and other environmental groups complained that Scholastic wasn’t using enough recycled paper and urged consumers to buy copies from the Canadian publisher, Raincoast Books.

Scholastic would not say at the time how much recycled paper it used, but said it did not use paper from ancient or endangered forests.

Sales, apparently, were not affected: “Half-Blood Prince” sold 6.9 million copies in the first 24 hours, making it the fastest-selling book in history.

Rowling’s fantasy series has sold more than 325 million copies worldwide.