In Holland, there are four free newspapers (Metro, Spits, De Pers and Dag), which are largely sponsored by advertisers.

Basically, the larger their circulation, the more advertisers pay. In order to compete with other newspapers, free newspapers are being overproduced. My friends in Amsterdam have encountered piles of dumped newspapers lying on street corners, next to the stations or supermarkets.

Newspapers are distributed through thousands of boxed slots at train stations and supermarkets. They are being picked up by the NS (Nederlandse Spoorwegen, Dutch Railroads) a few times a day and dumped in mixed garbage containers. Part of them gets recycled by the NS, according with agreements with Metro and de Pers. Dag and Spits refused to comment.

The paper that newspapers are made of only partially comes from recycled materials. It would be helpful if free newspapers took responsibility by helping to sponsor installation of the recycling bins in stations as it recently happened in London (see http://www.edie.net/news/news_story.asp?id=14093 ). We also petition for transparency about the origin of paper used for production newspapers and for establishment of stricter production controls.