Getting Clear On What to Look for in PAPER PRODUCTS
Fiber Content
Recycled Paper
Recycling saves trees and forest ecosystems, sequesters the heavy metals in
inks and keeps them out of the general waste stream, saves landfill space,
produces jobs, saves water and energy, and generates far fewer greenhouse gases
than virgin paper production. Purchasers of recycled paper help create a market
for recycled paper and incentives for the recovery of paper; the percentage of
office paper currently recycled in the U.S. is a pitiful 20 percent.
Recycling skeptics often claim that paper recycling involves toxic
solvents and detergents, but newer de-inking systems, now widespread in the
industry, have eliminated these troublesome substances.
Look for the following labels on recycled paper:
% Post-Consumer Waste (PCW): This
phrase defines what percentage of a paper is derived from consumer-generated
paper that has been recycled from the solid waste stream. This is the most
efficient reuse of paper, and as a rule of thumb consumers should seek out the
maximum percentage of post-consumer content, as opposed to
"pre-consumer" paper, which involves mill wastes and scraps.
% Recycled: This term
indicates that a paper contains the specified percentage of all recycled
material, including along both pre- and post-consumer content.
Alternative Fibers
Tree-free paper is available made from a variety of substances, including flax
and linen, tobacco leaf, agricultural stalks and straws, bamboo, coffee-bean
residue, esparto grass, seaweed, bagasse (leftover sugarcane stalks), old
money, old clothing and ground junk-mail. These fibers also can be combined
with paper made from wood pulp and recycled even further. Currently, the chief
tree-free papers include:
Kenaf: A
relative of hibiscus and cotton, kenaf is an annual plant that produces more
than twice the amount of fiber per acre as a pine forest. It requires few
pesticides and herbicides and is naturally whiter than wood pulp--requiring,
therefore, less bleaching.
Cotton: Sources
are rags, old clothes and blue jeans, and waste cotton from cotton mills.
Fortunately, most paper efficiently uses industrial by-products and
post-consumer waste that would otherwise be garbage. At least one company,
Green Fields, makes organic cotton paper products.
Hemp: Hemp produces excellent
fibers for paper--at least twice as much fiber as pine. It requires few
chemicals to grow and, like kenaf, is naturally lighter in color than wood
pulp.
Bleaching Process
Chlorine-free paper processing uses less than one tenth as much
water, according to the Chlorine Free Products Association. Look for paper
bearing the following CFPA certifications:
TCF: Totally Chlorine Free,
for virgin (non-recycled) paper that is unbleached or processed without the use
of chlorine or chlorine derivatives
PCF: Processed Chlorine Free,
for recycled paper in which the recycled content is not further bleached with
chlorine or chlorine derivatives; any virgin material portion of the paper must
be TCF.
ECF: Elemental Chlorine Free,
for paper bleached with a chlorine derivative, such as chlorine dioxide; ECF
reduces emissions compared to chlorine gas, but still produces dioxins, furans,
and other organochlorines as by-products. PCF and TCF are much preferable.
Third Party Certifications
Green Seal is an
independent, non-profit organization that strives to achieve a healthier and
cleaner environment by identifying and promoting products and services that
cause less toxic pollution and waste, conserve resources and habitats, and
minimize global warming and ozone depletion. Green Seal both recommends paper
products that meet its criteria, and certifies paper products when
manufacturers submit to inspections to verify their production processes.
The Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) can certify that the pulp used to make paper originates from well-managed forests with intact, healthy ecosystems.
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