Catalyst Paper Muddies the Water With Its Clarification and Its 443-Word Sentence

Today’s public relations tip: If you’re trying to clarify your company’s financial status, make sure your pronouncements are clear and that you don’t make people wade through a 443-word sentence that only a lawyer could love, or understand.

Catalyst Paper has generally been a leader when it comes to corporate transparency, especially on environmental issues. (See Ecologomania and Printed Products. No, the term "ecologomania" never caught on.) But it left readers dazed and confused when it issued a press release on Jan. 18 about its proposed recapitalization agreement.

“Contrary to certain media reports this is not a bankruptcy proceeding,” the statement said. “Further information concerning the recapitalization is contained in the Agreement, a copy of which is available on SEDAR (www.sedar.com), EDGAR (www.sec.gov) and the company’s web page (www.catalystpaper.com).”

But good luck finding the agreement on any of those sites without a lot of searching and clicking. Those who bothered were almost immediately confronted by this monstrosity of a sentence:

Ecologomania and Printed Products

If two recent reports from paper companies are any indication, it may soon become common for printed products to use ecologomania and ingredient lists to demonstrate their environmental friendliness.

Note the 10 environmental logos (above) on Cascades' 2008 sustainability report, which are truly an example of "ecologomania" -- the word I've coined for the display of numerous logos for such environmental certifications as sustainable forestry, recycled content, and energy source.

Catalyst Paper's 2008 sustainability report relies more on data than logos to communicate the company's environmental commitment. Its tell-all report provides mill-by-mill data on greenhouse-gas emissions, water usage, solid waste to landfills, and other items.

It also reveals the kind of data paper companies historically have held close to the vest, such as the amounts of various materials used by the company. Factoid: The company used almost as much precipitated calcium carbonate (PCC) as it did fossil fuels.

Both the sustainability report and Catalyst's annual report have what looks like a food product's list of ingredients, showing the inputs and emissions from producing the paper for the report. Note that paper is high in natural fibers.

Another factoid: The carbon footprint of Catalyst's manufacturing operations more than tripled last year when it purchased a 100%-recycled newsprint mill in Snowflake, AZ from AbitibiBowater. That mill's greenhouse-gas emissions per ton of product were at least 9 times higher than that of any other Catalyst mill. So much for the simplistic notion that you can reduce carbon footprint simply by switching to paper with recycled content.

With all of the environmental buzzwords swarming around these days, especially today, vague communications blathering on about corporations’ supposedly green practices don’t carry any weight any more. Increasingly, publishers and paper companies may be expected to back up their claims with hard data and third-party certifications.