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A row of colorful children’s magazines, including BBC Bedtime Story, Match of the Day, and LEGO Ninjago, displayed on a white table. Some have toys attached, such as a plush bear and art supplies. Green foliage is in the background.

Youth & Children's Sustainability Strategy

Since 2015, we’ve been on a sustainability journey across our Youth & Children’s portfolio, and we’ve made some big changes along the way. As a leading children’s publisher, we’ve helped set new standards for the industry.

We were the first UK publisher to:

  • Set up a system to retain and re-use covermount gifts from unsold magazines copies. On average we now retain and reuse over two million gifts every year.
  • Stop using foil bags for our magazines.
  • Use post-consumer recycled plastic in our gifts.

We aim to be the UK’s leading children’s magazine publisher, with the most environmentally sustainable approach. Our goal is to deliver high-quality, sustainable products that inform and entertain millions of families, in partnership with the most loved and trusted children’s brands.

Three hands with colorful painted designs and smiley faces on the palms are held up against a grassy background. The hands are decorated with bright spots and bracelets.
A child with curly hair and a yellow scarf draped over their shoulders looks through binoculars in a lush, green outdoor setting.
A young child wearing big purple glasses and a colorful scarf on their head smiles widely, showing missing front teeth, and holds up three sock puppets decorated with cartoon faces and accessories.
A row of colorful children’s magazines, including BBC Bedtime Story, Match of the Day, and LEGO Ninjago, displayed on a white table. Some have toys attached, such as a plush bear and art supplies. Green foliage is in the background.
A colorful assortment of kids toys and items on a blue background, including a charm bracelet unboxing kit, plush toys, pretend camera, toy food, bubble bottle, and cartoon character figures.
A young child with curly blond hair wearing a blue shirt is reading an open book. Bookshelves filled with colorful books are visible in the background.
Four colorful children’s magazine packs are displayed upright. They feature creative activities and licensed characters like CBeebies, Match of the Day, Bluey, and LEGO Ninjago, each with themed gifts attached to the covers.
A child holds a red letter A in one hand and a card with a watercolor painting of an apple in the other, illustrating the association between the letter and the fruit.
A group of green trees arranged in the shape of a recycling symbol, casting shadows on a white background.

Sustainability in Action

Our strategy is based around 4 key pillars and some examples of what we have achieved so far

 

  • A group of trees arranged in the shape of a prohibition symbol (a circle with a diagonal line), casting shadows on a white background.

    Remove

    We’ve eliminated several unsustainable materials from our covermount gifts, including polystyrene and glitter. We’ve also stopped producing items with limited re-use value, such as adhesive false nails and self-inking stampers.

  • A group of trees arranged in the shape of a circular arrow pointing upward, symbolizing sustainability or recycling, on a white background.

    Replace

    The majority of plastic used in our gifts now contains a minimum of 30% post-consumer recycled content, helping us close the loop on material use.

  • A group of green trees forms a circular shape with a downward-pointing arrow in the center, viewed from above, symbolizing environmental impact or reduction.

    Reduce

    By reducing the amount of plastic in our covermounts, we’ve cut the carbon emissions associated with them by 45% since 2022.

  • Aerial view of dense green trees arranged in the shape of the recycling symbol on a white background, casting soft shadows.

    Recycle

    90% of our covermount packaging is now recyclable via kerbside collections. For anything that isn’t, we provide customers with accessible recycling options to keep materials out of landfill.

Covermount Gifts

We carefully consider the following when we are creating new covermount gifts:

  • A blue outline of a shield with a circle and a checkmark inside, symbolizing security or protection.

    Durability

    Ensuring our gifts maintain their structural integrity and functionality throughout their intended lifespan.

  • Three blue arrows pointing up, left, and right, with the arrows diverging from a single point at the bottom, symbolizing multiple directions or choices.

    Multi-use

    Designing quality products which are both functional and appealing and that can be safely reused by our readers

  • A simple blue outline of a hand giving a thumbs up gesture, symbolizing approval or a positive response, on a white background.

    Relevance

    Ensuring that we offer gifts which have a clear purpose and relevance to our publications and our readers.

Over recent years we’ve significantly reduced the amount of plastic we use in our covermount gifts and are fully committed to further reducing this.  When plastic is used, we always try to ensure we use plastics which are easier to recycle.

Gift Packaging

We are a member of OPRL (On-Pack Recycling Label) – all of our gifts are clearly labelled with packaging recycling information. The information can either be found on the front or the reverse of the gift packaging. 

On some of our branded covermount gifts this information may not be shown, if you have any queries please don’t hesitate to contact us.

  • More than 90% of our covermount gifts packaging can be recycled in your kerbside recycling bin.
  • Many of our covermount gifts have plastic free packaging and all the cardboard we use is FSC certified.
  • Where we do use plastic packaging, for example on our blister packs, we ensure it contains post-consumer recycled content.

 

Five green and white recycling labels with symbols and text, including “30% recycled plastic,” “Recyclable packaging,” “Plastic free,” “Blister/Card recycle,” and UK-specific home recycling guidance.A display of children’s magazines and activity sets, including a Bluey crafting kit with markers and a notepad, and a Match of the Day magazine featuring soccer players and colorful graphics.

Magazine packaging

We now only use outer bags for our magazines when it’s absolutely necessary to do so and use paper wrap whenever possible. When we do use plastic, we only use LDPE plastic, which contains 30% recycled content, which is fully recyclable

Several children outdoors in a green, leafy setting joyfully reach up toward an inflatable globe. The scene is bright and cheerful, suggesting play and learning about the world.

Communicating with our readers

We know how important sustainability is to our readers, and we want to take you on our journey. We do this by creating relatable, entertaining and inspiring content in a way that is right for each brand.

Our teams work to an editorial strategy that encourages the production and ideation of features around sustainability. Sustainable content is then flagged up using relevant signposting; employing language that respects the environment and discourages over-consumption. We continuously gauge our readers’ sustainable perspectives to measure our impact.

We ensure that our covermounts link to the content within the title to emphasise its quality, promoting durability over disposability. Each covermount package includes clear recycling instructions, and our magazines feature Wastebusters to encourage covermount recycling.

Furthermore, we actively seek and source sustainable prizes for competitions and have transitioned all entries to digital formats, eliminating the need for postal submissions.

A smiling child in a yellow shirt sits at a table in a restaurant, holding a small sign that reads Pepperoni Edies Pizza beside a felt pizza toy. Large windows and other diners are visible in the background.