Environment
What kind of impact does paper-making have on the environment?
What is the problem with the way wood fiber is often harvested?
What happens to the environment as a result of these unsustainable logging practices?
What are the specific effects that typical logging practices have on biodiversity?
How do forests store carbon dioxide, and how much of it do they keep out of the atmosphere?
What about the trees that many forestry companies plant to replace what they’ve logged?
How do you know if paper comes from forests that are sustainably managed?
What is the impact of paper-making itself?
What is harmful about the chlorine compounds used in bleaching pulp for papermaking?
Does paper manufacturing have to be as damaging to the environment as it currently is?
How can we as consumers help the environment when we use and buy paper?
[1] Click on The Paper Making Process for a larger image.
What kind of impact does paper-making have on the environment?
Negative environmental impacts occur at three stages in the life cycle of paper, beginning with the harvesting of trees for fiber, continuing with the processing of wood fiber into pulp for making paper, and finishing with the disposal of paper products at the end of their useful life. The above diagram illustrates this life cycle for an optimal context, in which virgin fiber comes from sustainably managed forests and recycling “closes the loop” by re-pulping old paper to manufacture new. Not only does this way of making paper save trees and forests, but it also reduces waste in landfills, thereby eliminating emissions of methane gas from decomposing paper. Click here to learn more about the benefits of recycling and of sustainably managed forests. Unfortunately, this environmentally preferable scenario applies to only some of the paper products manufactured. An increasing but still small amount of virgin fiber comes from sustainably managed forests, and many grades of paper contain far less recycled content than they could.
What is the problem with the way wood fiber is often harvested?
As it exists today, the paper-making industry primarily depends upon virgin wood-based fibers to make the pulp that becomes sheets of paper. Much of the wood used comes from old growth and environmentally sensitive forests in all parts of the world – to give just two examples, the boreal forest in Northern Canada and tropical forests in Southeast Asia. In a number of countries like Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, and Russia, the logging that takes place is not only unsustainable but also carried out in areas where it is illegal to log. Once exported to other countries to be milled and manufactured into a variety of products, including paper, it is difficult to tell whether the wood was legally or illegally logged. .
What happens to the environment as a result of these unsustainable logging practices?
Forests are critical protectors of biodiversity and of climate stability by virtue of the habitat they provide and the carbon they store. Logging companies typically fragment forests or destroy them altogether, often making use of devastating clear-cutting practices. These practices degrade the ecosystems which sustain diverse plants and animals, and are responsible for the release of millions of tons of stored carbon. In many less urbanized nations, forest destruction also displaces traditional peoples, whose lives and cultures are intertwined with local forest environments.
What are the specific effects that typical logging practices have on biodiversity?
Unsustainable approaches to forestry destroy the delicate network of relationships between trees and other living organisms – plants, animals, fungi, and bacteria – in a particular habitat. The interplay of all of these elements is necessary to maintain a well-functioning ecosystem – that is, one which provides an adequate food supply and the conditions that allow its populations to reproduce successfully. Even something seemingly minor, like the construction of roads in previously roadless areas, can have damaging effects. Roads break up the continuity of forest habitats in ways that affect animals’ access to food and shelter, introduce areas of bright light incompatible with the native vegetation, and bring in outsider settlers, who may not have the knowledge to live sustainably in the forest environment.
How do forests store carbon dioxide, and how much of it do they keep out of the atmosphere?
Carbon dioxide is taken in through leaves as part of photosynthesis, the process which produces the sugars that fuel the growth of trees. Excess oxygen is released through the leaves, and the carbon from the sugars becomes part of the tree's living tissue, called the cambium. During each period of growth, the old cambium forms a new ring of wood, thickening the trunk, and more carbon dioxide is taken in to form another layer of living tissue. Carbon is also stored in the earth, as dead leaves, branches, trees, and other vegetation partially decompose and create more topsoil.
According to a 2006 report from the UN, forests store about 312 billion tons of carbon in their biomass alone. If you add to that the carbon in deadwood, litter, and forest soil, the figure increases to about 1.1 trillion tons! The UN assessment also shows that the destruction of forests adds almost 2.2 billion tons of carbon to the atmosphere each year, the equivalent of what the U.S. emits annually. Many climate experts believe that the preservation and restoration of forests offers one of the least expensive and best ways to fight against climate change."
What about the trees that many forestry companies plant to replace what they've logged?
Rather than truly restoring the native forest, these companies usually create monoculture plantations – that is, farms with only one species of tree. Typically, a non-native fast- growing tree species is chosen, diminishing the diversity that once existed. This type of plantation cannot support the plants and animals that once lived in the native forest, and doesn’t represent a true restoration of what was lost.
Monoculture plantations, unlike natural forests, rely heavily on herbicides to eliminate any competitive growth. In addition, plantations rely on chemical-based fertilizers that can damage soil and groundwater. And finally, dead trees aren’t allowed to fall and decompose, completing the natural cycle that keeps soil fertile and sustains the life of other organisms.
When the trees in a monoculture farm reach maturity, they’re all cut down at about the same time, and the process repeats itself. After another application of herbicide, more trees are replanted and additional fertilizer is applied, continuing the run-off of chemicals which harm local soils and water.
How do you know if paper comes from forests that are sustainably managed?
The non-profit Forest Stewardship Council has established an international certification
program, based on standards developed from the input of many interested parties
such as forest managers and owners, consumers, environmental groups, scientists,
indigenous peoples, and union representatives. The certification process not
only looks at the forests themselves, but tracks each step in the supply path
from the forest through pulp and paper manufacturing to distribution and sales.
In this way, it is possible to be reasonably certain that a given product contains
fiber that comes only from sustainably managed forests and hasn’t displaced indigenous
peoples or destroyed their livelihoods. FSC paper carries their logo on its packaging.
It is also important to look for other logos and information which assure that a product is environmentally preferable. They include the Green Seal, the Green-E, an indicator of post-consumer recycled content, and an indicator that the paper is processed chlorine free (PCF) for 100% recycled and totally chlorine free (TCF) for virgin fiber.
What is the impact of paper-making itself?
The pulp and paper industry is very energy intensive, requires extremely large amounts of water, and often entails the use of toxic chemicals, of which the most problematic are the chlorine compounds used in bleaching pulp to make bright white paper. Although many companies have become more energy efficient, and even generate some of their own power from the wood wastes associated with the manufacturing process, the U.S. government figures show that pulp and paper manufacturers are the fourth largest industrial emitters of greenhouse gases.[3] Further, the pulp and paper industry releases about 212 million tons of hazardous substances into the air and water -- amounts comparable to the U.S. primary metal industry -- and is ranked as the third largest user of industrial water.[4] These figures highlight the industry’s impact on our environment, despite improvements associated with requirements of the Clean Air and Clean Water Acts and with more general efficiency measures.
What is harmful about the chlorine compounds used in bleaching pulp for papermaking?
Chlorine compounds are rated among the most hazardous industrial chemicals in large volume use, affecting both human health and the environment.[5] By themselves, they have been classified as suspected toxicants to the respiratory and reproductive systems as well as to developmental processes. Their use in the pulp bleaching process also results in the creation of harmful byproducts called “organochlorines,” which include dioxins and dioxin-like compounds.[6] These substances are known to cause cancer and are suspected of causing developmental, reproductive, and immune system damage.
Although industry has reduced its organochlorine discharges because of strengthened government standards, Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) figures indicate that the pulp and paper industry ranks in the top three or four among U.S. manufacturing industries in the release of dioxin and dioxin-like compounds.[7] If the industry completely replaced chlorine compounds with safer oxygen-based bleaching, then there would be no organochlorine byproducts, and wastewater from the bleaching process could be almost completely recovered and reused.[8]
Does paper manufacturing have to be as damaging to the environment as it currently is?
The industry could do more to reduce its damaging impacts by sourcing its wood fiber from sustainably managed forests, increasing its use of post-consumer recycled paper, improving the efficiency of its use of energy and water, and completely eliminating chlorine bleaching. In fact, a number of paper manufacturers in the U.S. are working to do just this.
One example is provided by Mohawk Paper, a company which offers high quality printing and writing papers that have as much as 100% post-consumer recycled fiber, are processed chlorine free, and are preferentially sourced from FSC-certified forests, when virgin fiber is used. Additionally, savings from energy efficiency measures have allowed Mohawk to purchase wind power and finance renewable energy projects in the U.S. Finally, as a member of the US EPA Climate Leaders Program, Mohawk has inventoried its greenhouse gas emissions and is using that information to become a carbon neutral company, meaning that any CO2 emissions from its operations will be offset through the support of renewable energy and emissions reduction programs. For its achievements, Mohawk received the "Green Partner of the Year" award in 2007 from the EPA.
If you want to learn more about other companies which manufacture and purchase environmentally preferable paper, click here to go to the websites of organizations which work with business and industry to improve their paper policies and list sources of environmentally preferable paper.
How can we as consumers help the environment when we use and buy paper?
Our consumption and buying patterns can shape the world we live in, either for good or for bad. Click here to learn more about what you can do.
[1] From the Confederation of European Paper Industries (CEPI) (2005) Sustainability Report p. 2 at http://www.cepiprint.com/doc/environ_issues/cepi_sustainability_report_2005.pdf
[2] United Nations. Food and Agriculture Organization (2005). Global Forest Resources Assessment. At http://www.fao.org/forestry/fra2005/en/page.jsp.
[3] US Energy Information Agency at http://www.eia.doe.gov/emeu/efficiency/carbon_emissions/carbon_mfg.html
[4] US EPA(November 2002). Pulp and Paper Industry. Chemical Releases and Transfers at http://www.epa.gov/compliance/resources/publications/assistance/sectors/notebooks/pulppasnp2.pdf and US. EPA. TRIExplorer at http://www.epa.gov/triexplorer/ ; for water usage, US. EPA (2004). Forest Products at http://www.epa.gov/sectors/pdf/2004/forestproducts.pdf
[5] http://www.scorecard.org/chemical-profiles/
[6] http://www.scorecard.org/chemical-profiles/
[7] US EPA (2006). TRI Public Data Release Section B, p. B-30 at http://www.epa.gov/tri/tridata/tri06/pdr/SectionB.pdf
[8] EPN, State of the Paper Industry, pp. 51-52.
What kind of impact does paper-making have on the environment?
What is the problem with the way wood fiber is often harvested?
What happens to the environment as a result of these unsustainable logging practices?
What are the specific effects that typical logging practices have on biodiversity?
How do forests store carbon dioxide, and how much of it do they keep out of the atmosphere?
What about the trees that many forestry companies plant to replace what they’ve logged?
How do you know if paper comes from forests that are sustainably managed?
What is the impact of paper-making itself?
What is harmful about the chlorine compounds used in bleaching pulp for papermaking?
Does paper manufacturing have to be as damaging to the environment as it currently is?
How can we as consumers help the environment when we use and buy paper?
[1] Click on The Paper Making Process for a larger image.
What kind of impact does paper-making have on the environment?
Negative environmental impacts occur at three stages in the life cycle of paper, beginning with the harvesting of trees for fiber, continuing with the processing of wood fiber into pulp for making paper, and finishing with the disposal of paper products at the end of their useful life. The above diagram illustrates this life cycle for an optimal context, in which virgin fiber comes from sustainably managed forests and recycling “closes the loop” by re-pulping old paper to manufacture new. Not only does this way of making paper save trees and forests, but it also reduces waste in landfills, thereby eliminating emissions of methane gas from decomposing paper. Click here to learn more about the benefits of recycling and of sustainably managed forests. Unfortunately, this environmentally preferable scenario applies to only some of the paper products manufactured. An increasing but still small amount of virgin fiber comes from sustainably managed forests, and many grades of paper contain far less recycled content than they could.
What is the problem with the way wood fiber is often harvested?
As it exists today, the paper-making industry primarily depends upon virgin wood-based fibers to make the pulp that becomes sheets of paper. Much of the wood used comes from old growth and environmentally sensitive forests in all parts of the world – to give just two examples, the boreal forest in Northern Canada and tropical forests in Southeast Asia. In a number of countries like Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, and Russia, the logging that takes place is not only unsustainable but also carried out in areas where it is illegal to log. Once exported to other countries to be milled and manufactured into a variety of products, including paper, it is difficult to tell whether the wood was legally or illegally logged. .
What happens to the environment as a result of these unsustainable logging practices?
Forests are critical protectors of biodiversity and of climate stability by virtue of the habitat they provide and the carbon they store. Logging companies typically fragment forests or destroy them altogether, often making use of devastating clear-cutting practices. These practices degrade the ecosystems which sustain diverse plants and animals, and are responsible for the release of millions of tons of stored carbon. In many less urbanized nations, forest destruction also displaces traditional peoples, whose lives and cultures are intertwined with local forest environments.
What are the specific effects that typical logging practices have on biodiversity?
Unsustainable approaches to forestry destroy the delicate network of relationships between trees and other living organisms – plants, animals, fungi, and bacteria – in a particular habitat. The interplay of all of these elements is necessary to maintain a well-functioning ecosystem – that is, one which provides an adequate food supply and the conditions that allow its populations to reproduce successfully. Even something seemingly minor, like the construction of roads in previously roadless areas, can have damaging effects. Roads break up the continuity of forest habitats in ways that affect animals’ access to food and shelter, introduce areas of bright light incompatible with the native vegetation, and bring in outsider settlers, who may not have the knowledge to live sustainably in the forest environment.
How do forests store carbon dioxide, and how much of it do they keep out of the atmosphere?
Carbon dioxide is taken in through leaves as part of photosynthesis, the process which produces the sugars that fuel the growth of trees. Excess oxygen is released through the leaves, and the carbon from the sugars becomes part of the tree's living tissue, called the cambium. During each period of growth, the old cambium forms a new ring of wood, thickening the trunk, and more carbon dioxide is taken in to form another layer of living tissue. Carbon is also stored in the earth, as dead leaves, branches, trees, and other vegetation partially decompose and create more topsoil.
According to a 2006 report from the UN, forests store about 312 billion tons of carbon in their biomass alone. If you add to that the carbon in deadwood, litter, and forest soil, the figure increases to about 1.1 trillion tons! The UN assessment also shows that the destruction of forests adds almost 2.2 billion tons of carbon to the atmosphere each year, the equivalent of what the U.S. emits annually. Many climate experts believe that the preservation and restoration of forests offers one of the least expensive and best ways to fight against climate change."
What about the trees that many forestry companies plant to replace what they've logged?
Rather than truly restoring the native forest, these companies usually create monoculture plantations – that is, farms with only one species of tree. Typically, a non-native fast- growing tree species is chosen, diminishing the diversity that once existed. This type of plantation cannot support the plants and animals that once lived in the native forest, and doesn’t represent a true restoration of what was lost.
Monoculture plantations, unlike natural forests, rely heavily on herbicides to eliminate any competitive growth. In addition, plantations rely on chemical-based fertilizers that can damage soil and groundwater. And finally, dead trees aren’t allowed to fall and decompose, completing the natural cycle that keeps soil fertile and sustains the life of other organisms.
When the trees in a monoculture farm reach maturity, they’re all cut down at about the same time, and the process repeats itself. After another application of herbicide, more trees are replanted and additional fertilizer is applied, continuing the run-off of chemicals which harm local soils and water.
How do you know if paper comes from forests that are sustainably managed?
The non-profit Forest Stewardship Council has established an international certification
program, based on standards developed from the input of many interested parties
such as forest managers and owners, consumers, environmental groups, scientists,
indigenous peoples, and union representatives. The certification process not
only looks at the forests themselves, but tracks each step in the supply path
from the forest through pulp and paper manufacturing to distribution and sales.
In this way, it is possible to be reasonably certain that a given product contains
fiber that comes only from sustainably managed forests and hasn’t displaced indigenous
peoples or destroyed their livelihoods. FSC paper carries their logo on its packaging.
It is also important to look for other logos and information which assure that a product is environmentally preferable. They include the Green Seal, the Green-E, an indicator of post-consumer recycled content, and an indicator that the paper is processed chlorine free (PCF) for 100% recycled and totally chlorine free (TCF) for virgin fiber.
What is the impact of paper-making itself?
The pulp and paper industry is very energy intensive, requires extremely large amounts of water, and often entails the use of toxic chemicals, of which the most problematic are the chlorine compounds used in bleaching pulp to make bright white paper. Although many companies have become more energy efficient, and even generate some of their own power from the wood wastes associated with the manufacturing process, the U.S. government figures show that pulp and paper manufacturers are the fourth largest industrial emitters of greenhouse gases.[3] Further, the pulp and paper industry releases about 212 million tons of hazardous substances into the air and water -- amounts comparable to the U.S. primary metal industry -- and is ranked as the third largest user of industrial water.[4] These figures highlight the industry’s impact on our environment, despite improvements associated with requirements of the Clean Air and Clean Water Acts and with more general efficiency measures.
What is harmful about the chlorine compounds used in bleaching pulp for papermaking?
Chlorine compounds are rated among the most hazardous industrial chemicals in large volume use, affecting both human health and the environment.[5] By themselves, they have been classified as suspected toxicants to the respiratory and reproductive systems as well as to developmental processes. Their use in the pulp bleaching process also results in the creation of harmful byproducts called “organochlorines,” which include dioxins and dioxin-like compounds.[6] These substances are known to cause cancer and are suspected of causing developmental, reproductive, and immune system damage.
Although industry has reduced its organochlorine discharges because of strengthened government standards, Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) figures indicate that the pulp and paper industry ranks in the top three or four among U.S. manufacturing industries in the release of dioxin and dioxin-like compounds.[7] If the industry completely replaced chlorine compounds with safer oxygen-based bleaching, then there would be no organochlorine byproducts, and wastewater from the bleaching process could be almost completely recovered and reused.[8]
Does paper manufacturing have to be as damaging to the environment as it currently is?
The industry could do more to reduce its damaging impacts by sourcing its wood fiber from sustainably managed forests, increasing its use of post-consumer recycled paper, improving the efficiency of its use of energy and water, and completely eliminating chlorine bleaching. In fact, a number of paper manufacturers in the U.S. are working to do just this.
One example is provided by Mohawk Paper, a company which offers high quality printing and writing papers that have as much as 100% post-consumer recycled fiber, are processed chlorine free, and are preferentially sourced from FSC-certified forests, when virgin fiber is used. Additionally, savings from energy efficiency measures have allowed Mohawk to purchase wind power and finance renewable energy projects in the U.S. Finally, as a member of the US EPA Climate Leaders Program, Mohawk has inventoried its greenhouse gas emissions and is using that information to become a carbon neutral company, meaning that any CO2 emissions from its operations will be offset through the support of renewable energy and emissions reduction programs. For its achievements, Mohawk received the "Green Partner of the Year" award in 2007 from the EPA.
If you want to learn more about other companies which manufacture and purchase environmentally preferable paper, click here to go to the websites of organizations which work with business and industry to improve their paper policies and list sources of environmentally preferable paper.
How can we as consumers help the environment when we use and buy paper?
Our consumption and buying patterns can shape the world we live in, either for good or for bad. Click here to learn more about what you can do.
[1] From the Confederation of European Paper Industries (CEPI) (2005) Sustainability Report p. 2 at http://www.cepiprint.com/doc/environ_issues/cepi_sustainability_report_2005.pdf
[2] United Nations. Food and Agriculture Organization (2005). Global Forest Resources Assessment. At http://www.fao.org/forestry/fra2005/en/page.jsp.
[3] US Energy Information Agency at http://www.eia.doe.gov/emeu/efficiency/carbon_emissions/carbon_mfg.html
[4] US EPA(November 2002). Pulp and Paper Industry. Chemical Releases and Transfers at http://www.epa.gov/compliance/resources/publications/assistance/sectors/notebooks/pulppasnp2.pdf and US. EPA. TRIExplorer at http://www.epa.gov/triexplorer/ ; for water usage, US. EPA (2004). Forest Products at http://www.epa.gov/sectors/pdf/2004/forestproducts.pdf
[5] http://www.scorecard.org/chemical-profiles/
[6] http://www.scorecard.org/chemical-profiles/
[7] US EPA (2006). TRI Public Data Release Section B, p. B-30 at http://www.epa.gov/tri/tridata/tri06/pdr/SectionB.pdf
[8] EPN, State of the Paper Industry, pp. 51-52.