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Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Announces First 100% Recycled Textbooks to U.S. Schools



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Kicking off in Florida and available nationally in 2010, Go Math! for grades K–5 is the first educational series to receive the coveted “Green Edition” certification.

Boston -- Oct 21st, 2009 -- Global education leader Houghton Mifflin Harcourt today unveiled its Go Math! textbook series, the first textbook series made from one-hundred-percent recycled material. Available nationally in the spring of 2010, Go Math! for grades K–5 is the first of its kind to receive the “Green Edition” seal, which certifies that Houghton Mifflin Harcourt used environmentally responsible manufacturing and distribution processes to produce and deliver the series from author to reader. Go Math! Florida is already being offered to schools throughout the Sunshine State.

Houghton Mifflin Harcourt estimates that over the life of the Go Math! adoption in Florida alone, green textbooks will:

  • Save 40,000 trees and eight million gallons of water
  • Reduce air emissions by 3.8 million pounds
  • Eliminate one million pounds of solid waste
The “Green Edition” seal represents a stringent and unprecedented standard of environmental stewardship for the book publishing industry. To receive the designation, publishers must not only demonstrate a commitment to recycled paper, but also modify production processes and the supply chain to reduce the carbon footprint of their product.

In the case of Go Math!, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt manufactured all student editions in domestic plants governed by U.S. environmental laws, significantly minimizing shipping resources and the total carbon footprint. The carbon footprint calculation is based on the life of the textbooks and is determined by the Environmental Defense Fund metrics. The Company also adhered to “Green Edition” standards by using post-consumer recycled fiber to produce the series, which saves trees as well as reduces energy use, water consumption and landfill waste commonly associated with end-of-life textbooks.

“We are thoroughly committed to providing teachers and students with curricula that support student achievement and success, and to doing so in an environmentally responsible way,” said Mike Lavelle, K–12 president, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. “School districts across the county have expressed that environmental stewardship is a priority, so we will continue to build our Green Edition content to provide more sustainable solutions nationwide.”

The Go Math! recycled textbook series represents only one example of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt’s dedication to environmental stewardship. Additional Go Green company initiatives include:

  • A 2009 purchase of an estimated 40,000,000 lbs of 100% recycled paper for use in a variety of workbooks across the product spectrum
  • A movement of new sample packs to recycled corrugate
  • Increased use of soy-based inks
  • Elimination of foam from packaging materials and instead offering environmentally friendly solutions such as recycled plastic bubble packs and recycled kraft paper
  • Virtual sampling of products to replace most paper sampling
  • Save-a-Tree campaign to provide participating classrooms with trees to plant