Editor Mary Kate Leming needs your input and ideas.

Leming is the editor of The Coastal Star, a premier LOCAL and FREE newspaper serving coastal Palm Beach County. Leming is looking for a solution to a vexing problem: Is there a way to deliver the print edition of the newspaper to readers without a plastic bag to protect it from the elements?

The printed newspaper itself presents few problems for the environment except for the fossil fuels needed to produce and deliver it. Newsprint is a low-quality paper and breaks down very quickly. But the plastic bag will last for decades. Is there a solution to this problem?

At the conclusion of the editorial are ways to contact the editor and publisher at The Coastal Star with your suggestions and comments.

Without further ado here are three excerpts from the editorial published in The Coastal Star:


Editor’s Note: Seeking a better option than plastic for paper deliveries

Plastic is everywhere.

I walk the beach most mornings and pick it up all along the way. I pull bottle caps and fast-food cups out of my front hedge with some regularity. The amount of discarded plastic I see is overwhelming.

This summer on a family vacation we visited Connecticut and Rhode Island and found ourselves impressed with how many places have banned single-use plastics.

and. . .

. . . I thought I should begin supporting some of the local groups pushing to ban single-use plastics, but then I saw that the town of Palm Beach was forced to rescind its single-use plastic ban after learning an appellate court had upheld the Florida Legislature’s preemption against local bans of plastic bags and polystyrene containers.

Oh, Florida.

Sadly, I wasn’t surprised.

So, I decided to look closely at my own consumption of single-use plastics and polystyrene containers. I found we do pretty well at home, but lousy at the office.

All the take-out food containers we throw in the trash each week (way too many) are bad enough, but each month The Coastal Star is inserted in a single-use plastic slip in hopes of keeping it dry when it’s delivered.

So what can we do about the plastic wrapping our newspaper?

We know digital-only publishing is not profitable. We’d go out of business in a heartbeat if we were digital-only. Same thing with becoming subscriber-based rather than being a total market publication. We must make a profit or we won’t be able to continue providing quality, locally produced journalism.

So, how else could we deliver our print newspaper? We’re open to ideas.

Using the U.S. Postal Service is one option The Coastal Star is weighing. But that’s not a cheap or easy route. We are working out the numbers, but so far it appears this delivery method cuts too deeply into our bottom line.

Every business has its challenges adapting to a changing world, and maybe no business is facing more challenges than newspapers. But that just makes the job more interesting.

in conclusion. . .

We’re all in this together, so we’re hopeful you’ll let us know your suggestions on how we keep our company viable, but eliminate the plastic.

To make suggestions, email me at Editor@thecoastalstar.com or publisher Jerry Lower at Publisher@thecoastalstar.com

— Mary Kate Leming, Editor


To read the entire editorial published in The Coastal Star click on this link.

To follow the editor on Twitter use this link.

Support LOCAL journalism and support LOCAL newspapers!

Have you seen the latest print edition of The Coastal Star?

You can pick it up at the popular newsstand in Lake Worth Beach called Studio 205. The proprietor is a man named Andy (see photo below). Stop by and say, “Hello, Andy!”

Studio 205 also has the latest Lake Worth Herald and the Coastal & Greenacres Observer available for customers.

Andy’s juice bar, restaurant and newsstand is at the northwest corner of Federal and 2nd Ave. North. The phone number is 561-533-5272. The store is open at 7:00 a.m. every day of the week and closes at 6:00 p.m. (on Sunday the store closes at 5:00 p.m.).

So. Why not stop by Studio 205 today or later on this week?

Click on image to enlarge.

Meet the proprietor, Andy.