Paper and the Environment

So we've all see the email footer to the effect of "Consider the environment. Only print this email if you absolutely have to", but does printing an email or two really have any significant environmental impact?

As you may have guessed, the answer is "yes", but it's not just printing emails - despite our bright-eyed foray into the digital age, paper and paper products still play a significant role in our everyday lives - from fancy gift wrap, to toilet paper, to the post-it note on your desk to remind you to call someone - paper products are everywhere.

Around 40% of the world's wood harvest is converted into paper products, and pulp and paper production have historically been ranked among the most resource-intensive and highly polluting of all manufacturing industries. And it's not just the decimation of natural forests and the habitats they provide, or the large quantities of electricity and water required to make paper, or even the dangerous chemicals such as chlorine that are used in the process, or the emissions of CO2 and sulphur dioxides from the paper mills themselves - when paper has served its purpose and is disposed of in landfills it has the potential to decompose and produce methane, a greenhouse gas with 21 times the heat trapping power of carbon dioxide.

That having been said, it must be noted that in recent years some pulp and paper manufacturers have made significant progress in reducing their environmental impact, and not just to satisfy tighter environmental legislation. Mohawk Papers in the U.S. is the first paper plant in the world to use wind power for 100% of their energy requirements. Locally, Mondi constructed a new water treatment plant in Richard's Bay, voluntarily bringing them in line with the strict EU "paper profile" environmental legislation. All local forests used by the paper industry are managed sustainably and according to the Paper Recycling Association of South Africa the paper recycling rate is just under 50% and showing an upward trend. So we're not doing too badly, but what can you do as an individual?

The most obvious contribution you can make is to try and use less paper and recycle any paper that you do use. Don't buy paper towels - use cloth towels which are reusable, or use handkerchiefs instead of tissues where possible. And yes, don't print that email if you can avoid it. If you are going to print out emails, or anything else for that matter, try and use double-sided printing to save on paper.

When you use paper try and use 100% recycled paper (this includes all paper from your toilet paper to you birthday cards). Papers made directly from trees using virgin fibres can produce more than double the carbon emissions than papers made from 100% recycled fibre. Many papers use a percentage of recycled fibre mixed with virgin fibre - they also serve as environmentally friendly alternatives as some require less chemical treatment and bleaching than 100% recycled paper resulting in less chemical waste. If you are using paper or paper products made from virgin pulp (ie. not made from recycled fibre), or that uses a percentage of virgin pulp, ensure that it comes from sustainably managed forests. Look for something that says "FSC (Forest Stewardship Council) certified" or "PEFC (Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification) certified".

Pay attention to labels, don't just buy anything that says "green" or "eco" on it. This can often be misleading. Even if a product comes from a sustainably managed forest, it still has a significant environmental impact if that forest is in Germany and it has had to be transported thousands of miles to get here. So another tip is buy locally manufactured paper products if possible. Our local forests are managed with sustainability in mind, but some countries harvest wood from old growth forests and once the wood has been processed and distributed around the world it becomes almost impossible to tell where it came from. Another thing to look out for is whether the paper is made using a chlorine-free process. If this is the case the letters "TFC" will appear somewhere, this stands for Totally Chlorine Free.

If you run a business or are in charge of producing printed materials such as flyers or pamphlets find out about printing on a paper like Cyclus which is 100% recycled from post-consumer waste. The WWF has a Paper Scorecard which can be used to assess the environmental impact of various papers. Ask your paper supplier or designer to provide you with a scorecard for the proposed paper stock for your project.

Once again the most environmentally friendly decision is to simply use less printed materials, so give some thought to your marketing - is paper really the most effective marketing material for your specific purpose? Would you get a better response by giving a few hundred carefully targeted potential customers a cup of coffee than by distributing 1000 flyers randomly? Another fairly obvious way to contribute is to recycle all of the paper that you use. It doesn't take much effort and remember - every little bit counts.

Paper Smith and Sons

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