A Tale Of Two Papers

This paper was written with the sole intention of informing consumers about the products they may currently be buying.  Hopefully with enough demand from consumers industries will supply safer and more sustainable products.

Until the 1850s paper was a rare and costly product.   Consquently these products were made with the intention to last quite a while.  Then it was discovered that trees could produce it cheaply.  So the world changed and new uses for paper were created. Almost 50% of the paper created today is for designated as single use, and more often than not is quickly deposited in landfills (Wikipedia History).  Not surprisingly there has been a growing concern about the environmental harm that traditional paper is causing.  Hopefully consumers can force the issue and effect sustainability in this industry.

🏛Problems With Traditional Paper💰

Traditional wood contains 23-40% lignin.  Removing this lignin makes the pulping process energy intensive (Dan Gavrilescu et al).  The technologies used also produce air pollutants including but not limited to: VOC’s, nitrous oxides, sulfur oxides, acetone and methanol (James Owens).  In recent years there have been more laws and technology to reduce these emissions.  However, many governments still subsidize the traditional way of making paper, making it difficult for environmentally friendly manufactures to compete in the short run.   So these toxins are still being released at an alarming rate.  In addition paper is bleached to turn it white.  In some cases manufactures are oxygen is used instead instead of clorine (Dan Gavrilescu et al).

🧻 High Grade Toilet Paper Comes From Canadian Virgin Forests🌲

For the lower grade products that are used in napkins and packaging, 100% recycled paper can be utilized.  These products do not need to be bleached.  These recycled goods use less energy to be produced and it spares forests.  A small percentage of high grade office paper is made from 100% recycled materials.  Most high grade office papers have some recycled components, but the rest is still made from forests.  Most high quality toilet paper comes from Canadian virgin forests (Janet Abramovitz and Ashley Matton) .

Recycling will not be the complete answer.  Since lignin removal is what uses the most amount of energy, then it would seem logical to use a plant that has less lignin.  Non-wood products contain less lignin.  Farmers burn their non wood by-products that might be useable as paper feedstock’s.  This practice ads to unnecessary air pollution.  Instead these by-products could be used to make paper.  For instance corn and sugar cane contains 9-15% lignin, so they create more environmentally friendly paper (E.E.Alagbe a Alixander Perzon et al).  Using these materials could add to the farmers’ bottom line.  Currently some high grade sugar cane multi-use paper is sold in both office supply and grocery stores.

🤑Advantages of Using Hemp As Paper📄

One non wood plant contains 3% lignin, does not require herbicides (for more information about environmental effects of herbcides read the War of the Weeds) and does not need to be bleached. That plant is hemp.  Hemp has the potential to produce cheap high quality office and toilet paper (Hayo van Der Wef).  Currently only a few stores sell these products.  This is most likely due to the fact that in a number of ways hemp faces a competitive disadvantage and ends up costing more then the environmentally unfriendly equivalent.

Here are some factors that make hemp products cost more. 1) Hemp is not subsidized by governments 2) Currently it is more labor intensive than harvesting trees.  3) There are a number of fungus infections and insect pests that can damage the plants (John Finman and David Styles). With enough consumer demand these obstacles might be overcome.  Manufacturers that figure out solutions to these problems could add to their bottom line and attract more consumers.  Hopefully state and local governments will sense the shifting sentiments of the voters and support funding for research and development of hemp products.

📝Buying Eco-Friendly Paper Protects The Planet🌏

For over a century paper has been a cheap product widely used in western and some estern cultures.  The environmental toll includes poisoned water and air and as much as 40% of the waste in landfills.  Virgin forests are destroyed everyday to create toilet paper.  There is a more sustainable approach to paper production.  As a society we can buy office paper created from agricultural byproducts such as sugar and corn.  These practices would spare the world’s forests.  Hopefully this change in consumer habits will change the political will from subsidizing the traditional paper industry to supporting research and development of non-wood products.