Climate change is forcing companies of all sizes to rethink the way they do business.. to find ways to sustain growth in a low, rather than high, carbon economy.
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Today governments and businesses are looking to reduce their impact on climate change and adopt practices that are environmentally and socially responsible. A critical, effective, and often overlooked, avenue for significant, measurable results is paper usage. In fact, purchasing and using paper thoughtfully and responsibly is a must have component of any institution’s comprehensive action plan for reducing its impact on climate change. Today, there are many opportunities to purchase paper made with recycled content and third party certified, sustainably harvested forest fibre.
Despite predictions that the digital revolution would make paper as obsolete as the typewriter, paper remains central to our lives. In fact, according to industry forecasters, global demand for paper and paperboard is projected to increase nearly 60 per cent, from 368 million tonnes in 2005 to 579 million tonnes in 2021.
PAPER PUTS PRESSURE ON FORESTS AND CLIMATE
Paper production has traditionally been a major contributor to climate change due to significant environmental impacts throughout its entire life cycle: from consumption of forests globally, to energy intensive mill processing, to its disposal and decomposition in landfills. However, increasing market demand for environmentally responsible papers has spurred innovation and new product development that allows a wide adoption of effective climate action through positive paper choices. Today there are papers produced with climate and forest sustainability as a key distinguishing attribute available in almost every grade that perform exceptionally for all manner of applications. Leading companies are now working with suppliers to develop new environmentally improved papers. In doing so they achieve measurable net climate benefits they can report.
THE CASE OF HARRY POTTER
In a demonstration of the availability of environmentally improved papers and how benefits can be quantified, the final edition of the Harry Potter series, published in 2007, has been touted as the greenest book in publishing history and is a model for all paper users. Globally, 16 editions of the book were printed on ecopapers and the climate and forest benefits were significant: 137,609 BTU’s (British thermal unit) of electricity conserved; 7,876 tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions avoided; 20,404,246 kg of solid waste diverted from landfills and savings of 197,685 trees which did not need to be harvested. None of these book papers even existed just a few years ago. Harry Potter’s publishers worked with their suppliers to achieve this switch with help from experts at organisations including Markets Initiative, Green Press Initiative and others.
Any institution developing a strategy for analysing and reducing their carbon footprint will benefit greatly from adopting a responsible paper purchasing policy. The Environmental Paper Network, an international coalition of leading environmental NGOs advancing social and environmental responsibility in the pulp and paper industry, advocates developing a policy which embraces the four pillars of its members’ ‘Common Vision for the Transformation of the Pulp and Paper Industry’:
- Increasing paper use efficiency.
- Maximising recycled content.
- Sourcing fibre responsibly.
- Employing cleaner production practices.
INCREASING PAPER USE EFFICIENCY
When any business or organisation begins to address its paper usage, the volume of waste and inefficiency becomes starkly visible and it’s easy to see that increasing paper use efficiency saves money. Just as a unit of conservation/efficiency is the most economically valuable unit of alternative/clean energy, the same applies to paper use. Lower paper volumes benefit your bottom line directly by reducing your purchase costs. This also has indirect cost benefits that can be 10 times the cost of the paper alone. These include: reducing the costs of technology such as photocopy toner and printer ink; paying for less storage space and filing equipment; slashing postage costs and saving time. Many companies find that paper reduction strategies have significant additional benefits by introducing new systems of information efficiency which improve the quality of services by speeding up information flows. These savings can then be applied to balance other aspects of the paper policy if necessary.
The climate benefits of reducing paper consumption are significant. If, for example, the United States cut its office paper use by roughly 10 per cent, or 540,000 tonnes, greenhouse gas emissions would fall by 1.6 million tonnes. This is the equivalent of taking 280,000 cars off the road for a year.
Using less paper is also about equitable use of the Earth’s resources. Think how much better the world would be if current levels of paper production were used to make books for schools in impoverished nations instead of wasted office print outs and junk mail. Paper usage volumes vary enormously around the world: North Americans and Europeans use more than 200kg each per year, while the average African uses just 6.5kg.
MAXIMISING RECYCLED CONTENT
Compared to copy paper made from 100 per cent virgin forest fibre, a copy paper made from 100 per cent recycled content reduces total energy consumption by 44 per cent, net greenhouse gas emissions by 41per cent and wood use by 100 per cent. In the same comparison, 21 million BTU’s of energy and 2,108 lb of CO2 are saved for every tonne of paper replaced with recycled fibre.
Purchasing recycled paper also helps keep waste paper out of landfill. If paper is landfilled rather than recycled, it decomposes and produces methane, a greenhouse gas with 23 times the heat trapping power of carbon dioxide. In the United States, more than one-third of municipal solid waste is paper, and municipal landfills account for 34 per cent of human related methane emissions to the atmosphere, making landfills the single largest source of such emissions. The US Environmental Protection Agency has identified the decomposition of paper as among the most significant sources of landfill methane.
In 2007, the United States House of Representatives changed its office copy paper purchasing to 100 per cent recycled paper. In doing so, their action will save approximately 84,000 trees per year, enough energy to power 643 homes per year, and save the greenhouse gas equivalent of taking 670 cars per year off the road.
SOURCING FIBRE RESPONSIBLY
Most paper still comes from trees sourced from the world’s forests. But knowing where your paper comes from, where in the world – what forest, can help you determine whether it was harvested in a manner that does not negatively impact the global climate. According to the UN Food and Agriculture Organization, deforestation accounts for 25 per cent of the annual carbon emissions caused by human activity. A growing body of evidence suggests that avoided deforestation, the protection of standing intact forests and their natural functions, will be a key strategy for protection against climate change.
Of course, not all logging for paper results in deforestation and loss of natural carbon sinks, but is there any way to know? Is there a way to make an active, positive choice to support a forest industry rooted in sustainability? There is, thanks to the independent, third party certification of well managed forests by the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC). Its label, a tree and check mark, is appearing on a rapidly increasing number of paper products and in the credentials of forest and paper users worldwide.
FSC is an independent, nonprofit, non-governmental organisation. It is an association of members from environmental and social groups, the timber trade and the forestry profession, community forestry groups and other organisations from around the world. FSC runs a global forest certification system that includes two key aspects: Forest Management and Chain of Custody certification. This ensures that timber produced in certified forests has been traced from the forest to the end user.
It is estimated that over 40 per cent, of the world’s industrial wood harvest is used for paper production. The paper and printing industry has the power to have a massive impact on how our forests are managed. Through using and specifying FSC paper from well managed forests, purchasers that seek to take climate action give value to responsible forestry practices and ensure that purchases are not contributing to forestry practices that exacerbate global warming.
EMPLOYING CLEAN PRODUCTION METHODS
The biggest greenhouse gas releases in pulp and paper manufacturing come from the energy production needed to power the pulp and paper mill. The pulp and paper industry is the fourth largest emitter of greenhouse gases among United States manufacturing industries, and contributes nine per cent of total manufacturing carbon dioxide emissions. Worldwide, the paper industry uses six per cent of all energy.
As stated, purchasing recycled paper reduces total energy consumed. Secondly, purchasers of paper should determine what energy source was used in the manufacturing process and find paper that is produced using clean, renewable energy sources, such as wind and solar. Increasingly, these products are coming to market bearing certifications and logos that announce they are produced in this way. Be sure to achieve confidence that the claims are genuine, logos are credible, and that offsets are achieved through reliable institutions.
WHAT’S IN YOUR PAPER?
Purchasing and using paper thoughtfully and responsibly can be a key component of any institution’s comprehensive action plan for reducing its impact on climate change. By embracing the four pillars of the Common Vision, paper manufacturers, suppliers and purchasers can dramatically reduce the climate change impacts of paper use.
Thanks to a rapidly increasing market demand, product innovation by the industry, and tools and information for carbon conscious decision making, climate action via responsible paper choices is an opportunity that is here today, not tomorrow. It is a tremendous opportunity to take voluntary, positive actions in the commercial marketplace which lead us firmly in the direction of sustainability.
Author
Joshua Martin is the Director of the Environmental Paper Network, located in Asheville, North Carolina, USA.
Organisation
The Environmental Paper Network links together over 100 organisations worldwide, working collaboratively to advance social and environmental transformation in the paper industry.
Enquiries
Environmental Paper Network
16 Eagle Street
Suite 200
Asheville, NC 28801
USA
Tel: +1 (828) 251-8558
E-mail:
Picture credits: Paper - fabphoto/iStockphoto; Recycled paper logo - Sava Miokovic/iStockphoto; Logs - AVTG/iStockphoto
