Paper manufactured from alternative fibres is not a new concept. In fact, for hundreds of years, papers have been produced from fibres other than wood. You only have to look at areas outlying cities like Manchester and London and you will find mills that used to (or still do) produce paper. One reason for the location of these mills was the amount of used cotton rags that were collected in the cities, transported to the mills and used in the manufacture of paper.

Cotton is still a popular choice in the production of paper and produces an exceptionally smooth and slightly tactile sheet that can be used with a variety of printing processes. For example, Inveresk Graphic Paper's cotton rich Avalon range is suitable for all business stationery and text and cover applications. Christopher Pyrkosz, brand manager at Inveresk, said: 'We have created a luxurious part-cotton product that combines style and performance. Avalon has a discreet, reversible watermark and is available in a variety of textures, tints and weights, which is why we believe it has become a market favourite.

Distinction Prestige paper, available from Brand Paper has 75% cotton content, with a matt surface and a distinctive watermark. 'Distinction Prestige has an attractive, even surface which has gained a high reputation among paper users, buyers and specifiers', said Mark James, product manager for uncoated paper and board at Brand Paper. He added: 'Designers are looking for the perfect vehicle to complete the style and feel that they want to create. Today, they are increasingly choosing more interesting finishes, knowing that the right choice of paper can be an integral part of the design and can enhance their work'.

There is no lack of interesting finishes and fibre content around. GF Smith, for example, has Rubicon listed in its portfolio of products. Rubicon is made from bamboo and has a smooth white or natural surface and according to the company, with a special surface treatment, is able to reproduce colour and line work exceptionally well. The company believes that the demand by designers for papers with sound environmental criteria remains high and many projects not only require these credentials, but also a highly printable sheet of paper.

Another paper made from bamboo is Freelife Kendo from Fedrigoni, which contains a 20% alternative content from Kenaf and bamboo plants (Kenaf is an annual plant similar to hemp). The company believes that what distinguishes Freelife Kendo is the use of fibres from fast growing plants. The use of Kenaf and bamboo makes it possible to produce a tenacious paper of very high bulk, with good opacity and an out of the ordinary touch.

The London-based paper agent RK Burt, is well known to designers and those seeking the unusual for its wide range of papers produced from a plethora of fibres. Commenting on the extent of its range, the company said: 'In recent years, sources of supply have globalized to include Egypt (Papyrus), India (100% recycled cotton), Japan (papers made from plants such as Gampi, Manilla Hemp and Kozu) and the extraordinary Himalayan papers in Lokta fibre, combined with other indigenous plants like onion, banana and walnut, resulting in stunning surfaces which creative paper users find irresistible'. The company also stocks a range of European mould-made papers with high cotton content. Nowadays, the cotton is a by-product of the clothing industry: the longest fibres are used for textiles, the shorter fibres (still long compared to wood pulp) are used to make paper.

One such cotton paper from RK Burt is called Acid Free Repair Paper. With a weight of 55gsm, this 100% cotton paper is used for repairing items such as medieval documents found in cathedrals, or other archival material kept perhaps in council or government offices. A selection of papers from RK Burt listed simply as Japanese, cover a variety of textures and fibres ? from 9gsm repair paper made from Mulberry fibres, which are very long and strong, to papers made with flowers or dotted with pieces of gold. Many of these papers are specialist and have similar uses, such as wedding invitations or special menu cards. But, if designers wish to have a challenge, then perhaps they should be looking at some of these more unusual papers. Of course, it is also possible to buy papers that will a truly individual product. Curtis Fine Papers, manufacture papers from cotton, straw, hemp, bamboo, esparto, kenaf, flax and bagasse on a made-to-order basis. Jane Milroy, marketing manager for Curtis Fine Papers explained: 'Some customers are keen to make a statement by using alternative fibres to woodpulp. The main environmental reason for using these fibres is that they are annually renewable crops.' She added: 'Different fibres also impart different qualities to the paper, for example, cotton lends a highly tactile feel as well as durability and permanence.' As well as its bespoke capabilities, Curtis Fine Papers produces branded alternative fibre products, which are available from stock. These include, Curtis Cotton (which as the name suggests, is made from cotton) and Curtis Esparto, (which is made from 85% esparto and 15% cotton). Another mill that manufactures paper using alternative fibres is St Regis Paper Company's Silverton Mill in Devon. But in this case, the mill does not produce branded products, only papers manufactured on a bespoke basis, enabling customer to have a product that exactly matches their requirement. The mill can produce a variety of papers which can include fibres such as cotton, hemp and straw.

The use of environmentally preferable papers:

• Reduces the impacts on forests worldwide
• Reduces the need to convert forests into tree farms
• Conserves water, energy and greenhouse gases
• Strengthens the market for recycled and alternative fibres
• Prevents pollution
• Encourages responsible forest management
• Creates more jobs
• Helps to protect biodiversity

Environmentally Preferable Paper Purchasing Guidance
Purchasers can influence the paper production process through the paper attributes that they demand, as well as through the products that they specify or reject. Consumer demand has long been an important driver in the development of environmentally preferable papers and in influencing the technologies and investments necessary to make them. In order to most effectively harness purchasers' power to steer the paper industry toward more sustainable production methods, we advocate that paper purchasers implement the following guidance.

Make a commitment
Develop an organisational policy commitment to purchase paper with increasingly enhanced environmental characteristics as specified in these guidelines and set a timetable for the transition. Communicate the commitment to managers and staff, suppliers, customers, partners and the public.

Minimise paper consumption
Eliminate excessive and unnecessary paper consumption. Visit www.foresthetics.org/reduction for paper reduction strategies. Examples include:

• Purchasing copiers, printers and fax machines that can be set to default to double-sided printing
• Maximising paper use efficiency in business and other settings
• Rethinking design processes to minimise printing and copying waste
• Minimising unsolicited mail, both sent and received
• Minimising overruns and maximising sell-through for published materials

Maximise Recycled Content

• Eliminate the use of paper and paper products (including newsprint, packaging, tissue products, office papers and publications) made from 100% virgin fibre content.
• Switch to paper that contains the highest post-consumer recycled content feasible for each specific need, but no less than the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) minimums for federal agencies. Currently the EPA minimums for printing and writing papers, for example, are 30% for uncoated papers and 10% for coated.
• After switching to recycled paper, set a timeline for increasing the post-consumer content as quickly as possible to higher percentages. For printing and writing papers, this should be no less than 50% for uncoated papers and 30% for coated. Notify suppliers that papers with these contents or higher are expected.
• After maximising post-consumer recycled content, give preference to paper products that also contain other recovered materials (e.g. agricultural residues, pre-consumer fibre).

Be selective about Virgin Fibre Content

• Supply Origin: Verify with suppliers and manufacturers the source of any virgin fibre content in paper and give preference to suppliers and manufacturers that establish a credible 'Chain of Custody' tracking system to reliably identify the origin or fibre sources.
• Endangered forests: Give preference to papers guaranteed to be free of fibre that threatens endangered forests. (Some forests are so rare, threatened or ecologically vulnerable, or are of such global biological or cultural importance that any logging of commercial use could irreparably damage their conservation value). End the use of paper with fibre content known to threaten endangered forests. Environmental groups are compiling information on endangered forests and making it more widely available.
• Forest conversion to plantations: Give preference to papers that can be guaranteed to be free of fibres from the conversion of diverse natural forest ecosystems into plantations. End the use of any paper with fibre content known to come from recent or ongoing conversions of natural forests to plantations.
• FSC certification: Give preference to papers with a remaining virgin tree fibre content that comes from independent, third-party, certified forest managers that employ the most environmentally and socially responsible forest management and restoration practices. Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) is the only acceptable international certification programme that comes close to meeting this guidance.

For more information see:

www.fscus.org and www.fscoax.org (FSC US and international websites)
www.certifiedwood.org (certified wood supply database and tracking services)
www.forestworld.com (certified wood supply database and tracking services)
Web sites of certifiers specified on FSC web sites.

• Alternative fibres: Give preference to papers made from alternative fibre crops (e.g. hemp, kenaf) if Life Cycle Analysis and other comprehensive and credible analysis indicates that alternative fibres are environmentally and socially preferable to other sources of virgin fibre.
• Alternatively modified organisms: Do not buy papers with fibre content known to come from transgenically modified trees and plants that have genes of other animals and plants inserted.

Give preference to Chlorine-free papers
Give preference to papers processed without chlorine or chlorine compounds (i.e. 'processed chlorine free' or PCF papers), as long as they also meet recycled content goals.

Spread the word:
Print on documents an accurate description of the attributes of the environmentally preferable papers used, in order to raise awareness and accountability.

Environmental Paper Related Definitions:

Recycled Paper
A paper product containing those percentages of post-consumer material and/or recycled fibre categories required by specifications and so labelled.

Currently, there is no agreement on what the term 'recycled paper' means, beyond the fact that it contains recovered fibre (which may be pre-consumer and/or post-consumer). You should establish strong post-consumer standards in your specifications and ensure that suppliers meet those standards. You must also question what others mean by 'recycled paper' unless the post-consumer content is clearly labelled.

Post-consumer material
These end products generated by consumers that have been separated or diverted from the solid waste stream.

The critical words here are 'end products' and 'consumers'. Products, scraps and materials still in the production or value-added process do not qualify. Examples that do qualify include office wastepaper, junk mail and magazines from people's houses, undeliverable mail at the Postal Service's dead-letter office, office wastepaper and shipping packaging from delivered products.

End product
An item that has completed the manufacturing or converting process and that is then distributed or sold to a consumer for purposes other than resale or manufacture of other goods.

Consumer
Any person, government agency or other entity that uses goods for its own needs and not for resale or for manufacture of other goods.

Recovered Material
Paper materials excluding mill broke, that have been separated, diverted or removed from the solid waste stream for the purpose of use, reuse or recycling

This term refers to the universe of materials that counts as recycled content, both pre-consumer and post. It is consistent with the EPA's definition, which includes all materials produced after the initial papermaking process. Despite allowing inclusion of large amounts of scraps that may never have left the mill, it is consistent with the practical reality of how mills make their paper. However, the American Forest and Paper Association includes mill broke in their statistics on recovered materials.

Mill Broke
Any paper or paperboard scrap generated in a mill prior to completion of the manufacturing process which is unsuitable for subsequent applications, but can be re-used in the paper manufacturing process.

Mill broke is not counted as recycled or recovered material. Originally, 'mill broke' referred to all the scrap in a mill. Economic viability ensured that mills re-used it in making new paper. But, EPA defines mill broke as being only that portion of scraps produced in the initial paper manufacturing process. The amount of paper scrap in a mill that counts towards recycled content percentages can be quite large, particularly if the mill also sheets its paper.

Pulp substitutes
Fibre derived from recovered material, excluding mill converting scraps, which has not been printed and does not contain inks, coatings, adhesives or dyes (excluding whitening or blueing dyes or agents).

Examples: envelope cuttings, tabulating cards and other types of post-mill converting wastes.

Paper manufacturing process
Is an operation that begins with the pulping of fibrous and non-fibrous raw materials and ends (after the first slitter/winder) with the cutting and trimming of the reel into smaller rolls. In an operation:

• in which the finished product is sheeted directly off the machine, the production of rough sheets constitutes the end of the process
• which involves supercalendaring, the end of the process is at the slitter/winder following the supercalendar; and
• which involves off-machine coating, the process ends at the slitter/winder following the coater or the supercalendar associated with the coater

Pre-consumer materials
Are recovered materials other than post-consumer material.

Pre-consumer materials have not met their intended end-use by a consumer and include allowable waste left over from manufacturing, converting and printing processes.

Examples: mill converting scraps, pre-consumer de-inking material, pulp substitutes

Mill converting scraps
Any paper generated in a paper mill after completion of the paper manufacturing process, excluding mill broke, which is unsuitable for subsequent applications but can be re-used in the paper manufacturing process.

Example: scraps left over from sheeting operations in a mill.

De-inking fibre
Fibre derived from recovered material, excluding mill converting scraps, which has been printed and/or contains inks, coatings, adhesives or dyes (excluding whitening or blueing dyes or agents).

There is both pre-consumer and post-consumer de-inking fiber.

Examples of pre-consumer: printing scraps and unsold ('over tissue') magazines.

Recycled Fibre
Fibre derived from recovered material which is included in the fibre finish of an end product

Forest Residues
Are fibrous by-products of harvesting, manufacturing, extractive, or woodcutting processes.

Examples: chips, stumps, branches and sawdust. Although U.S. federal agencies are required to buy paper that meets post-consumer standards, EPA and the Federal Executive allow one mill in Maine to qualify its papers by including 50% sawdust instead of post-consumer content, despite the fact it's common in virgin papers. Don't make the same mistake.

Renewable
A term proposed for the paper industry for virgin paper made from 'renewable resources' such as managed tree plantations. This does not ensure environmentally sound paper.

Source reduction
A product or process that results in a net reduction in the generation of waste compared to the previous or comparable version and includes durable, reusable and re-manufactured products; products with no, or reduced toxic constituents and products marketed with no, or reduced packaging.

Wastepaper
An EPA term, including both pre-consumer and post-consumer materials, introduced in the original 1988 recycled paper guidelines. Its use in standards allowed papers with no post-consumer content, even made with mill scraps only, to be called 'recycled'. EPA eliminated standards using wastepaper percentages in its May 1996 revised paper guidelines, but retained the term as the underlying basis for its definition of 'recovered fibre'.

Chlorine Free Definitions

Processed chlorine free (PCF)
Recycled paper in which the recycled content is unbleached or bleached without chlorine or chlorine derivatives. Any virgin material portion of the paper must be TCF.

This is as good as it gets. Go straight to heaven, do not pass Go!

Totally chlorine free (TCF)
Virgin paper that is unbleached or processed with a sequence that includes no chlorine or chlorine derivatives.

It is important to create a market for TCF papers to convince the industry to skip ECF (see below) and go directly to TCF.

Elemental chlorine free
Virgin paper processed without elemental chlorine, but with a chlorine derivative such as chlorine dioxide.

Although considerably less harmful than using chlorine, ECF is still considerably worse than TCF. There is also some indication that ECF processes may release more elemental chlorine than originally expected. Many mills are switching to ECF as a way of avoiding the upgrades for TCF. But, ECF is only a half-step on the way to less toxic bleaching. We recommend using post-consumer content recycled paper over an ECF paper.

Chlorine free product
Any product produced without the use of chlorine chemistries, including elemental chlorine gas, chlorine compounds and chlorine derivatives.

Tree Free Definitions

Tree Free Products
Products made from agricultural residue or agricultural fibres.

Agricultural residue
Usable materials recovered primarily from annual crops as by-products of food and fiber production.

Agricultural fibers
Fibres harvested from non-wood plants that are grown intentionally for tree free paper or other fiber products.

Sustainable Forestry Definitions

Ancient timber old growth fibre free
Are products in which no content is from old Growth Forests.

Old Growth Forest
Old Growth Forests have the following characteristics:

• they are largely naturally regenerated
• less than 30% of the standard forest area has been logged or cleared within the last century
• they are relatively undisturbed such that human activities have not significantly altered native forest structure, composition or function
• they are dominated by native tree species
• they are relatively unmanaged, although they may suffer from a history of fire suppression or grazing and
• they are made up of individual or stands or trees of varying ages, with old growth components constituting at least half of the stand or forest unit and having at least four trees per acre over 150 years of age

Source Reduction Definitions

Source reduction product
A product that results in a net reduction in the generation of waste compared to the previous or alternate version and includes durable, reusable and remanufactured products; products with no, or reduced toxic constituents and products marked with no, or reduced packaging.

Re-used product
Any product designed to be used many times for the same or other purposes without additional processing, except for specific requirements such as cleaning, painting or minor repairs.

Remanufactured product
Any product diverted from the supply of discarded materials by refurbishing and marketing said product without substantial change to its original form.

Environmentally Preferable Papers (Click to Download) (Pdf)

Q: Does the paper industry cut down more trees than it plants?
A: No. In every country that supplies significant amounts of pulp to Britain, at least two trees are planted for every one cut down. In Finland and Sweden, the rules stipulate three. In managed forests, trees are grown as a crop to be harvested (like corn in a field) and can either be mixed or single species. Just like a farmer, the papermaker would be mad not to replant his raw materials and thus provide for future supplies.

Q: What new fibres can be used for papermaking?
A: For many years farmers have been burning straw stubble and adding to atmospheric pollution. However, in both Denmark and Romania, good quality pulp for graphic paper production comes from straw. During the last war, straw pulp was produced for paper production in the UK.

Because straw is what is known as wet stock, there are limits to the percentage that can be used. 35 years ago, it was only possible to use about 10% in the furnish. Now technology has enabled papermakers to use between 50% and 60%. Straw is an excellent source of fibre, giving the paper a distinct rattle and crispness. Work has been done to develop bagasse (the residue from the sugar cane industry) as a papermaking fibre and papers made from this material are now widely available.

Traditional fibres like cotton are also being re-examined for their wider potential in papermaking.

Q: Is the paper industry destroying the Brazilian Rainforest?
A: No. Wood sources for paper and board are managed forests (coniferous softwoods) which, because of their longer fibres give added strength characteristics to paper. Tropical hardwoods - rainforest trees - are not suitable for papermaking. A limited amount of pulp is made from hardwoods such as birch and aspen, occurring in temperature climates.

Eucalyptus, originally a native of the New World, has been successfully cultivated in other warm climates for its high quality pulp. Apart from whole trees, the industry now uses vast quantities of 'small dimension' wood (e.g. plantation thinnings and sawmill waste) for a large proportion of its wood requirements.

Q: Why is bleaching used in pulp manufacture?
A: The AOX quantity (adsorbable organo-halogens) in the process water of pulp mills has decreased spectacularly during the past decades. Increasingly, substances such as chlorine dioxide, ozone, hydrogen peroxide and oxygen are being used in the bleaching process instead of elemental chlorine.

Q: What is the paper industry doing to achieve responsible use of energy?
A: There is no doubt that the industry is a large consumer of energy, although the amount expended to produce each ton of material is diminishing all the time as manufacturing processes improve. Over the last ten years, energy consumption per ton has been cut back by 30%.

Mills achieve high fuel conversion efficiencies by using steam to both drive turbines and then dry the product. By and large, chemical pulp mills provide their own energy requirements by burning parts of the tree that cannot be converted to paper as well as incinerating the black liquor which is a by-product of the bleaching process.

Because of its pioneering work in this and other areas, the UK papermaking industry is cited by the government as an example to others. If recycled papers continue to increase in popularity, this could have a significant impact on energy consumption because the cellulose fibres have already been separated in the original pulping process.

Q: What is recycled paper?
A: Plainly stated, recycled paper is a grade of paper that contains recycled (post-consumer and/or pre-consumer) fibre. There are recycled paper grades that range from 10% post-consumer to 100% post-consumer recycled. Some countries have developed guidelines for federally funded purchases that require a minimum of 30% post-consumer content for uncoated printing and writing paper. These standards are generally accepted as de facto (but voluntary) national standards.

The two most widely used classification systems in the UK are those devised by the NAPM (National Association of paper merchants) and TSO (The Stationery Office).

Q: What is Eco-labelling?
A: It is the best prospect yet for a universal system of judging ecological issues and helping customers to avoid being misled by a multitude of varying labels and marks. It is a huge project, initiated by the European Community and covers everything from textiles to cat litter. Whatever the product, an Eco-label will only be awarded if it satisfies a stringent analysis of the manufacturing process, from cradle to grave.

See our section on Eco-labels in this handbook

Q: How does recycling affect the quality of paper produced?
A: Repeated recycling downgrades cellulose fibres by shortening and weakening them. The process of separating out inks and the glues used in bookbinding also contributes to a weaker, limper sheet. It therefore, follows that designers and printers must always consider the fitness of purpose of any recycled sheet. Although the quality is improving all the time, it is fair to say that recycled paper makes good sense in lower grade applications which will not demand over-ambitious printing and finishing techniques. It is generally accepted that recycled paper is prone to dusting, dot gain and inevitable inconsistency of quality and specific printing techniques are required for successful results.

• Due to the variability of waste material, variations in shade may occur and the degree of dirt may be greater.
• Strength properties may be less than for corresponding grammages of a virgin quality fibre i.e. tear, burst and tensile strength
• Other properties may also be slightly more variable i.e. opacity, caliper, rigidity, etc.

Q: Does the production of recycled paper require more energy than conventional paper?
A: This is a classic example of how to tell lies with statistics. In fact, the manufacture of recycled paper typically uses only half the energy needed for conventional virgin pulp. The extra energy costed in was the energy cost in transporting collected waste paper for recycling.

This is wrong on two counts:
• it doesn't include the energy costs of collecting waste paper for landfill or incineration on the other side of the balance, which are inescapable if you don't recycle the paper.
• waste paper collection costs are distorted because there are presently so few mills taking the waste, and most of those that do are well away from the main sources of the waste. This increases the miles it has to travel, and inflates the energy cost.

Waste paper collection may not yet be as efficient as it could and should be - but that is not a good argument against doing it!

Q: Paper is biodegradable in landfill, so why bother recycling?
A: Paper is biodegradable but in the conditions of a landfill site it can take fifty years to break down. According to the Paper Federations some five million tonnes of paper and board end up in landfill sites every year. Recycling that paper waste instead will reduce the need for landfill, create jobs and help to ease pressure on forest resources. Buying recycled grades will help stimulate the market for recovered fibre and recycling the paper when you're finished will complete the cycle.

Q: What is Greenwash?
A: Greenwash is a term used to describe misleading claims used by an organisation so as to present an environmentally responsible public image, when it has not doing much for the environment. For example, making a claim that a paper is "environmentally friendly" when is contains ECF pulp and 10% recycled material could be seen as greenwash. That isn't because its environmental credentials are poor, but because most papers at least meet the same standard - it would thus be claiming too much.

Q: Is recycled paper better for the environment than virgin paper?
A: Yes! It's common sense that making new paper from old paper is easier on the Earth.

Here's why:
• It helps preserve forests, because it reduces demand for wood;
• It conserves resources and generates less pollution during manufacturing, because the fibres have already been processed once; and
• It reduces solid waste, because it diverts usable paper from the waste stream

Q: Does paper recycling save trees?
A: Recycling reduces the total number of trees that are cut down to make paper and can reduce overall demand for wood. But more importantly, paper recycling saves forests. By substituting used paper for trees, recycling reduces the overall intensity of forest management needed to meet a given demand for paper, and the pressure to convert natural forests and ecologically sensitive areas like wetlands into tree plantations.

Q: Which takes more energy to produce, recycled or virgin paper?
A: Producing recycled paper uses much less total energy than producing virgin paper. Depending on the grade, producing recycled paper may use more or less purchased energy (a subset of total energy), in the form of fossil fuels and purchased electricity. Virgin freesheet grades require slightly less purchased energy to produce than recycled ones, because some of their energy needs are met by burning wood-derived process waste.

Q: How does switching to recycled paper reduce greenhouse gas emissions?
A: The environmental advantages of recycled paper hold true even when more fossil fuelderived energy is used to produce it. (As noted above, this is true only for freesheet grades.) In the landfill, where 80% of discarded paper ends up, the decomposition of paper produces methane, a greenhouse gas with 21 times the heat-trapping power of carbon dioxide. Paper recycling recovers used paper from the waste stream, directly reducing the amount of paper landfilled. Thus for recycled papers, any increase in greenhouse gas emissions during manufacturing is more than outweighed by reductions in emissions from landfills.

Q: What other manufacturing impacts are reduced by switching to recycled paper?
A: Aside from reducing total energy use and greenhouse gas emissions, switching to recycled paper cuts emissions of other air pollutants such as nitrogen oxides (which contribute to smog), and particulates (which contribute to respiratory problems). It also reduces the volume and improves the quality of wastewater from the paper mill.

Q: Given that paper mills are typically located near forests and far from sources of wastepaper, what about the energy needed to transport recovered paper to mills?
A: Lifecycle analysis shows that even after the energy used to collect, transport, and process used paper is accounted for, the recycled paper system uses much less total energy than the virgin paper system. This is because the energy needed to recover used paper and get it back to the mill is quite small relative to the energy saved by using recovered paper rather than trees to manufacture new paper.

Q: What about the sludge from recycled paper mills?
A: Recycled mills do generate more solid waste, mostly in the form of sludge, than virgin paper mills. However, that increase is more than offset by the reduction in solid waste that comes from diverting paper from the waste stream. And the same inks, coatings, and fillers present in recycling mill sludge would go into the ground anyway if the paper were landfilled instead of recycled. Finally, recyclers are increasingly finding ways to reclaim and reutilize some components of recycled paper sludge, which can't happen if that paper goes to a landfill or incinerator.

Q: If recycled paper is ultimately landfilled, how does recycling reduce solid waste?
A: Each time paper is diverted from the waste stream and used to make recycled paper, there is a direct reduction in solid waste. Think of it this way - if you use a piece of paper once, then erase and use it again before throwing it away, you create less waste than if you used two pieces of paper and threw them both away. Similarly, even if a sheet of recycled paper is eventually landfilled, the recycling process still reduces the total amount of paper landfilled.

Q: What's the difference between post-consumer and pre-consumer recycled content?
A: Post-consumer materials are finished products that have served their intended end use and would otherwise end up in a landfill or incinerator. Pre-consumer materials include trim and scrap from manufacturing processes (e.g., the conversion of paper rolls into envelopes) and over-issue publications. Unlike pre-consumer fibre, post-consumer fibre is not typically included in paper at any significant level unless purchasers specify it. Buying paper with postconsumer recycled content achieves direct reductions in wood, water, and total energy use, releases of pollutants during manufacturing, and solid waste and greenhouse gas emissions from paper decomposing in landfills. It also supports business and community recycling programs, and creates an incentive for paper manufacturers to use more paper diverted from disposal.

Frequently Asked Environmental Questions (Click to Download) (Pdf)

Global and U.S. Paper Production and Consumption Statistics

Of the global wood harvest for 'industrial uses' (everything but fuelwood), 42% goes to paper production. (Abromovitz and Mattoon, Worldwatch Paper: Paper Cuts p.20, 1999)

Of the 42% of the world's industrial wood harvest going to paper, almost two thirds comes from wood harvested specifically for pulp, while the rest derives from mill residues such as wood scraps and sawdust. . (Abromovitz and Mattoon, Worldwatch Paper: Paper Cuts p.20, 1999)

Industrialized nations, within 20% of the world's population, consume 87 percent of the world's printing and writing papers. (Klaus Toepfer, Executive Director, United Nations Environment Programme, Keynote Address UNEP's 7th International High Level Seminar on Cleaner Production 29-30 April 2002)

Global production in the pulp, paper and publishing sector is expected increase by 77% from 1995 to 2020. (OECD Environmental Outlook. Paris: OECD, 2001, p.215)

The pulp and paper industry is the single largest consumer of water used in industrial activities in OECD countries and is the third greatest industrial greenhouse gas emitter, after the chemical and steel industries. (OECD Environmental Outlook, p.218)

Paper pulp exports from Latin America, from forests converted into plantations and from the harvesting and conversion of tropical and subtropical forests are expected to grow 70% between 2000 and 2010. (Mark Payne, Latin America Aims High for the Next Century, Pulp and Paper International, 1999)

Most of the world's paper supply, about 71%, is not made from timber harvested at tree farms, but from forest-harvested timber, from regions with an ecologically valuable, biologically diverse habitat. (Toward a Sustainable Paper Cycle: An Independent Study on the Sustainability of the Pulp and Paper Industry, 1996)

Tree plantations host about 90% fewer species than the forests that preceded them. (Allen Hershkowitz, Bronx Ecology, p.75, 2002)

Printing and Writing Grade and End Use Snapshots USA

Printing & Writing Paper	Tons (000)	End use Uncoated Free-Sheet Snapshot	Tons (000)
Uncoated free-sheet	13,898	Office Reprographics	4,656
Coated Paper	9,615	Commercial Printing	3,297
Uncoated Groundwood	1,832	Business Forms	1,892
Printing and Writing Total	26,935	Envelopes	1,430
		Books	626
US Statistic.s Source: AF&PA, 2000		US Statistics. Source: AF&PA, 2000

World's Top 30 Producing and Consuming Countries, 2000 (Pulp and Paper International)

Country	Metric Tons (000)	Country	Metric Tons (000)	Country	Metric Tons (000)
USA	85,495	USA	57,002	USA	92,355
Japan	31,828	Canada	26,411	China	36,277
China	30,900	China	17,150	Japan	31,736
Canada	20,689	Finland	11,910	Germany	19,112
Germany	18,182	Sweden	11,517	U.K.	12,684
Finalnd	13,509	Japan	11,399	France	11,376
Sweden	10,786	Brazil	7,463	Italy	10,942
France	9,991	Russia	5,814	Canada	7,476
Korea	9,308	Indonesia	4,089	Korea	7,385
Italy	9.000	Chile	2,841	Spain	6,922

Paper Recovery

• Recovery of all printing-writing papers is 41.1% (office paper is recovered at a rate of 46.9%), but only 4.8% recovered paper goes back into making new recycled printing and writing paper. (AF&PA Paper Recovery Progress Report, May 2001)
• 12,891,000 tons of printing and writing paper (42.1%) was recovered in 2001 (pre and post-consumer). Where does it go?

10.9% - into new printing and writing paper
34.9% - net exports
23.4% - tissue
20.6% - recycled paperboard
4.5% - newsprint
5.8% - all other

(Recovered Paper Statistical Highlights, 2002 Edition, AF&PA)

Paper Impacts on Forests: Global and Regional Statistics

U.S. Southeast

• The Southern US, which contains the most biologically diverse forests in North America (Ricketts, Taylor H. et al, Terrestrial Ecoregions of North America, Island Press, Washington DC 1999), is the largest paper-producing region in the world. (See USDA Forest Services Southern Forest Resource Assesment 2001 ? herinafter: USS, SFRA 2001)
• The paper industry is the largest consumer of forests in the Southern US, currently logging an estimated 5 million acres of forests (an area the size of New Jersey) each year. (See USFS SFRA 2001)
• While the Southern US contains 31% of the nation's timber inventories, it is harvesting 54% of the nation's total timber volumes. (Ted Williams, 'False Forests', Mother Jones May/June 2000, p.73)
• Forest Service, monoculture tree plantations feeding the 156 chip mills in the South (110 of them built since 1990) now make up 40% of all pine stands in the southeastern US and, within twenty years, if current trends continue, tree plantations will make up to 70%. (Ted Williams, 'False Forests', Mother Jones May/June 2000, p.73)
• 75% of the plantations established in the last twenty years have been established at the expense of natural forests (USFS, SFRA 2001) and the conversion of forests to plantations is the leading cause of freshwater wetland loss in the region. (US Fish & Wildlife Service, Status and Trends of Wetlands in the Conterminious United States 1986 to 1997)
• Rural communities where the paper industry is concentrated are economically worse off than the other rural communities, experiencing higher levels of poverty and unemployment and lower expenditures on public education. (USFS, SFRA 2001)

British Columbia (BC), Canada

• Temperate forests are the most endangered forest type on the planet. (World Resources Institute, 1997)
• Temperate rainforests only ever covered 0.2% of the world's land surface (Ecotrust and Conservation International, 1992)
• Temperate rainforests are truly ancient forests and contain some of the world's oldest trees.
• BC is home to a quarter of the world's remaining ancient temperate rainforests (WRI)
• One out of eight animal species in BC is at risk of extinction, according to the BC Ministry of Environment. Logging was identified as one of the primary contributing causes. (BC Ministry of Environment, State of the Environment Report 2000)
• BC's ministry of Forest data states that the rate of logging in BC is unsustainable. (BC Ministry of Forests)
• 90% of the logging in BC occurs in ancient forests. (BC Ministry of Forests)
• Over 40% of the trees cut in BC are used to produce paper. (Markets Initiative, 2001)

Indonesia

• Pulp production has more than quadrupled in the last decade, more than 1.4 million hectares of natural forest have been replaced by plantations. (Worldwatch Institute, 'Paper Cuts' Abramovitz, 1999, p.25)
• Satellite data shows that 80% of the fibres that burned over 2 million hectares of Indonesian forest in 1997 and 1998 were set mainly to clear land for palm oil and pulpwood plantations. ('The Year the World Caught Fire', Nature, December 1997)

Environmental Benefits of Recycled Paper

Switching from virgin to recycled content paper results in many benefits. Research by the Alliance for Environmental Innovation has shown that each ton of recycled fibre that displaces a ton of virgin paper used in coated groundwood paper (stock used in magazines).

• Reduced total energy consumption by 72%
• Reduces net greenhouse gas emission by 47% and reduces particulate emissions by 28%
• Reduces wastewater by 33%, reduces solid waste by 54% and reduces wood use by 100%

30% Post-consumer copy paper
One ton (40 cases) saves the equivalent of:

• 7.2 trees (forty feet in height and 6-8 inches in diameter). (Conservatree)
• 2,100 gallons of water, 1230kw hours of electricity and 18 pounds of air pollution. (Conservatree)

100% Post-consumer copy paper
One ton (40 cases) saves the equivalent of:

• 24 trees (forty feet in height and 6-8 inches in diameter). (Conservatree)
• 7,000 gallons of water, 4,100kw hours of electricity and 60 pounds of air pollution. (Conservatree)

To say that recycled = good and virgin fibre = bad is far too simplistic. Let's take a fresh look at the issues concerning paper and the environment.

Trees
Trees for paper use are cultivated as a crop. The assumption that using recycled paper saves trees is incorrect. Much pulp comes from small branches, making the most of a tree that is cut down for other uses.

Energy
Like any other major industrial process, paper making uses a lot of energy. Producing recycled paper uses about half the energy required of virgin paper. Either way, some pollutants will be released into the atmosphere, although, all pulp and paper mills have made huge strides in reducing emissions over the last few years.

Bleaching
Bleach is added to paper pulp principally to make it whiter and stronger ? as the market demands. Chlorine and its derivatives were once widely used as bleaching agents, but have been largely replaced by liquid oxygen and other substances, hence the terms TCF (totally chlorine free) and ECF (elemental chlorine free). Very few recycled papers are re-bleached.

Water
Up to 300 000 litres of water are required to make a tin of paper ? recycled paper uses less than a third of this. An increasing number of mills now operate a closed loop system which re-uses and saves enormous amounts of water.

De-inking
As with all paper making effluents, the residue from de-inking for recycling is closely controlled and can increasingly be dried and spread on agricultural land when mixed with fertilizers.

Recycling Sources
Pre-consumer waste is the term generally used for mill broke or envelope factory offcuts. Post consumer waste is waste retrieved from offices and homes via collection systems, thus avoiding the need for landfill or incineration. The latest generation of post-consumer recycled papers are as good as most virgin fibre sheets.

Alternative fibres
There is a growing interest in tree-free pulps as an alternative fibre source for paper. Straw, seaweed, hemp, cotton and linen are all used, mixed with wood fibre to greater or lesser degree. It is probably only the set up costs of commercial pulp production in these areas that has prevented further development ? so far.

Here are some tips you may not already know:

• Some papers made from recycled fibre may exhibit slightly different characteristics to similar grades made from virgin fibre e.g. variations in shade, opacity and brightness may occur. For demanding jobs on recycled papers, a machine proof should be run.
• It is possible that more debris may be evident, requiring a greater number of wash-ups within a production run.
• For web offset work on plain and lick coated recycled material, spot colours require lower tack values and lower production speeds (e.g. 20/25,000iph).
• Recycled paper may not be as strong as other paper and tends to be more absorbent, absorbing more ink. Dot gain may also increase by 2-3%.
• Press speeds may need to be reduced on some recycled papers for sheet fed work.

Reassessing Paper & the Environment (Click to Download) (Pdf)