Printers in Europe are facing a threat to volumes as consumer groups across the EU wind up the pressure to force people to opt in to receive door drop advertising material.
A number of trials are underway across major markets in Europe which might lead to wider restrictions in the name of reducing waste and improving sustainability. In some areas there are also complaints that local authorities are unfairly bearing the cost of handling excessive amounts of waste.
The challenge to door drop distribution is becoming a focus for Intergraf, the organisation representing the interests Europe’s print associations, including the BPIF. It has lodged a complaint with the European Commission with a response due by the middle of next year.
In the report on its activities in 2021, Integraf charts these threats to print. In the Netherlands 18 cities have implement opt in schemes for consumers. while this is only 5% of Dutch cities, the most important urban centres, including Amsterdam, are part of the scheme.
A three-year trial is getting underway in France across 15 regions of the country. There will be a report in three years with guidance on what action might follow. Local authorities in France have been vocal about the costs of collecting and processing advertising flyers and door drop promotional material. Luxembourg is about to implement an opt in scheme and the authorities in Denmark are under increasing pressure to do the same. Germany maintains an opt out scheme despite pressure to switch.
Door drops are a major driver of high volume print across mainland Europe, a culture which scarcely exists in the UK despite the efforts of those offering door drops and unaddressed mail channels. This is partly because national press does not have the reach of it has in the UK, free distribution local newspapers in the UK and because in some countries data protection legislation favours segmented and targeted printed leafletting, rather than the use of personal data for digital marketing purposes.
And while sustainability is used as an argument to limit the use of doorstop advertising, Ralph Dittmann, CEO of WKS Group, a key player in this market in Germany, says: “Printed products in Germany amount to 1% of the 227kg carbon footprint per head in Germany each year.” This is well behind the CO2 footprint of travel, food production, energy consumption and more. And the impact is reducing as printers like WKS are moving towards carbon neutral production. More than three-quarters of the paper it uses is recycled. “The advertising supplement is the only push advertising medium there is,” he says.
Integraf also outlines action to change regulations on food contact materials. The European Commission is due to make a ruling by the middle of next year. However, Germany is implementing the Printing Ink Ordinance and France a regulation on mineral oils ahead of the EC rulings. Integraf published a guide to food contact regulations last year aiming to help printers avoid falling foul of the law.
While these are areas that will be a continuing focus for Integraf, the paper crisis beginning in the second half of last year has been central to its activities since. Secretary general Beatrice Klose says that the paper crisis has been at the core of intergraf’s work in 2021. And with the uncertainty stoked by the war in Ukraine, she adds that “the outlook is not very positive”.
