Dispelling Myths: Recycled vs. Virgin Fiber
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The document discusses the evolution of recycled paper and highlights its environmental benefits, including significant resource savings and reductions in greenhouse gas emissions. It dispels common myths about recycling and encourages responsible sourcing of paper with maximum recycled content. The presentation aims to inform paper buyers on sustainable practices and certifications in the paper industry.
![Q&A CONTACT INFORMATION Susan Kinsella Executive Director, Conservatree PO Box 29304 San Francisco, CA 94129 415-883-6264 [email_address]](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/kinsellanewleaf-100310231948-phpapp02/85/Dispelling-Myths-Recycled-vs-Virgin-Fiber-17-320.jpg)
Dispelling Myths: Recycled vs. Virgin Fiber
- 2. Presented by: New Leaf Paper Inspiring a shift towards sustainability. Widest selection of leading eco papers. Eco Audit: Share your resource savings. Consumer Products: style & substance. Contact us: [email protected]
- 3. Dispelling Myths: Recycled vs Virgin Paper Susan Kinsella Executive Director, Conservatree for New Leaf Paper March 9, 2010
- 4. Agenda Introductions Conservatree background Dispelling myths: recycled vs. virgin Q&A Reminder: next webinar on March 16 th Understanding the Eco Paper Universe Presented by Neva Murtha, Canopy
- 5. Conservatree Paper Company 1976-1997 ID’d papers being made with recycled content, when there was no differentiation between “recycled” and “virgin” Established specialty distributorship, based in San Francisco – the only national source through the late 1980s for commercial grades and quantities of recycled papers Partnered with paper mills, introduced the first recycled version of almost every printing/writing grade of paper 1988 - Introduced first recycled content copy paper 1990-1993 – At center of debates about recycled content standards, inclusion of postconsumer, resulted in White House Executive Order for federal agency use of recycled paper 1994 – Closed down sales division, continued education, including new environmental attributes – chlorine free, tree free, sustainable forestry 1997 – Closed down company
- 6. Conservatree – ENGO 1998 - current Nonprofit organization Website listings of virtually all environmental papers available in U.S. and Canada 2001 – Deinking capacity study, with EDF 2002 – Chaired Environmental Paper Summit, initiated Environmental Paper Network (environmentalpaper.org) 2002 – Advised FSC-Int’l on combining recycled standards with forestry certification 2000-2004 – Listening Studies on questions about recycled, tree free and sustainable wood fiber papers 2003-2007 – Single Stream Recycling Best Practices, manual and summit focused on need for processing quality 2007-2008 - PIRA Int’l report on chain-of-custody paper markets 2009-current – Updating all website listings, will update deinking capacity study
- 7. Presentation Parameters Printing and Writing papers – not newsprint, corrugated cartons, paperboard, or tissue (each has a different story) Kraft pulping – not Groundwood/Mechanical High grade deinking – not recycling as in packaging mills
- 8. Pulping Groundwood/Mechanical – grind up tree, use nearly 100% for papermaking Adv – resource efficient, less expensive Disadv – paper deteriorates rapidly Examples – newspaper, inexpensive paperback books, phone books, coated paper for magazines/catalogs Kraft/Chemical – chemically cook tree to break out fibers Adv – strong, archival quality paper Disadv – most resource-intensive of all papermaking, only half of tree available for paper (balance is used for energy co-gen) Examples – copy paper, office papers, printing papers, high quality books, high-end coated paper used for advertising
- 9. Environmental Benefits of Recycled Paper Resource benefits – PaperCalculator.org State of the Paper Industry Report - Environmental Paper Network 1 ton kraft virgin pulp requires up to 4.4 tons of fresh trees (23% material efficiency rate) 1 ton of kraft deinked pulp requires 1.4 tons recovered paper (71% material efficiency rate) Significant reductions in use of water, energy, bleach and chemicals Significant reductions in GHGs, pollution Keeps paper out of landfills, prevents methane production (25x more potent than CO2; even when landfill methane is captured for energy use, a large percentage is still released into the atmosphere.)
- 10. Myths? Forests and Trees “ Trees are renewable.” “ Trees are cut for lumber, not paper.” “ More trees are planted than are cut.” “ Trees grow back.” “ There’s plenty of forest cover.” “ Using a paper with certified forest fiber is the same as using recycled paper.”
- 11. Recycled Paper High quality Increasingly combined with additional environmental attributes like chlorine free, tree free, and certified sustainably harvested fiber Widely available in virtually all grades Some grades cost more, but others are very cost-competitive
- 12. Recycling Questions Isn’t recycling bad because it produces shorter fibers? Don’t you need some virgin fiber in all paper? What about all the transportation to truck recovered materials around? There’s not enough recovered materials – aren’t we already getting all we can (or we’re shipping it all overseas)? What’s the point of “postconsumer fiber”? (Alternatively, isn’t that the “best” fiber?”) Doesn’t it make more sense to put recycled content into tissue and packaging, not printing/writing paper?
- 13. Recycled Content by Grade Grade Segment of 2005 U.S. Production Average Recycled Content Tissue 8% 45% Newsprint 9% (incl. Canada) 33% Containerboard 23% 24% Printing/Writing 27% 6% Boxboard 30% 37%
- 14. What’s A Paper Buyer To Do? Follow the Environmental Paper Network’s Common Vision: 1. Minimize paper consumption 2. Maximize recycled content – greatest environmental benefits are in printing/writing papers, need to encourage more capacity 3. Source fiber responsibly 4. Encourage cleaner production practices Use credible 3 rd -party certifications when available – e.g. Green Seal, EcoLogo, CFPA, FSC – but first understand what they do and do not guarantee
- 15. Importing Paper Be aware that manufacturers in other countries may not use common terms in the same way – determine what they mean by terms such as: “ Recycled” “ Treefree” “ Woodfree” “ Chlorine free” “ Renewable”
- 16. Future World Paper Markets . . . . . . Require Drastically Reduced Industrial Footprints Recycled Content is Key - the fastest way to dramatically reduce resource demand for high quality papers and reduce the paper production footprint
- 17. Q&A CONTACT INFORMATION Susan Kinsella Executive Director, Conservatree PO Box 29304 San Francisco, CA 94129 415-883-6264 [email_address]