Green Printing - Choosing Eco-friendly Paper

Introduction
Businesses and individuals worldwide are more conscious of their environmental impacts than ever before. Fortunately when it comes to paper production there are many environmentally friendly options available. This article looks at those options and provides some tips for ensuring that your printing is as green as possible.

Where does paper come from?
Paper used in printing can come from a variety of sources. Most paper comes from plantation forests but old growth forests are still logged (often illegally) to provide timber and pulp for paper. Regrowth forests, regenerated following logging of old growth forests, are another source. Other fiber sources can include banana fibre, cotton, flax, hemp and bagasse (sugar cane waste), as well as recycled paper.

What is the most sustainable paper source?
There are two global certification schemes that aim to ensure sustainable production of pulp for paper production - these are the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) and the Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification Schemes (PEFC). Paper sourced from FSC or PEFC certified suppliers, with full chain-of-custody certification, can be considered the most sustainable paper.

FSC
The FSC runs certification programs for paper manufacturing that shows the fibre used to make some of the product comes from an FSC certified forest or recycled content from a controlled source, and is Chain of Custody (CoC) certified.

FSC certified forests are managed according to strict environmental, economic and socially responsible standards and support sustainable forest management around the world.

PEFC
PEFC is an independent, non-profit, non-governmental organisation, and applies rigorous global standards across all its endorsed certification systems, forest managers, paper companies and their external certifiers.

Its certification programs provide independently verified assurance to consumers and companies that they are buying products from sustainably managed forests.

What Is Chain Of Custody (CoC)?
CoC certification is a mechanism for tracing a product along the supply chain. For example, tracing paper from the forest to the final product and end user to provide certainty that the product about which a claim is being made is linked to a certified forest.

Carbon neutral paper
The carbon impact of the paper used in a print job represents about 70% of the total carbon emissions generated, with the remaining 30% coming from the manufacturing process and other raw materials. It is now possible to buy carbon neutral paper that has had its carbon impact negated by the purchase of carbon offsets, thereby neutralizing 70% of the carbon impact of the print job. The gold standard here is carbon neutral paper that also has FSC or PEFC Chain of Custody certification, thereby ensuring that every environmental claim being made about the paper is genuine.

It's also worth taking the time to choose a printing company that can offset the remaining 30% of emissions and has a carbon management program in place.

What about recycled paper?
With the growing global commitment to sustainable forest management, preventing trees being cut down is becoming less of a reason to buy recycled paper. However, it is still true that using recycled fiber products will reduce pressure on the world's natural resources. Today the main reason for buying recycled is to make good use of the waste paper that would otherwise enter landfill sites or be sent for incineration.

There are a large variety of recycled papers used commercially and they can contain different percentages of pre-consumer and post-consumer waste:

Pre-consumer recycled
This is paper that would otherwise have become waste, but it never made it to the end-user. It is product that has been discarded at some stage in the manufacturing process, such as off-cuts when a page is trimmed by a printer.

Post-consumer recycled
Post-consumer recycled fiber has been produced from waste discarded by the end-user. For example, it might contain the photocopy paper you put in your recycling bin at work or at home. Paper made from 100% post-consumer waste, where it has been used at least once in the past, is the only paper that can be labeled as genuinely recycled.

Isn't the production of recycled paper compared to normal paper more damaging to the environment?
No, the production of recycled paper pulp is, generally speaking, more environmentally benign than the production of 'virgin pulp' that comes directly from trees. Making recycled pulp produces less air pollution and most types of emissions to water are reduced. Recycled pulp production usually requires less water and less energy.

Contrary to some beliefs, the ink is not bleached out of the fiber but is removed by soaps. So, it's not true the amount of bleach required is more for recycled pulp. There have been concerns about leftover waste ink and 'fiber sludge', but these are diminishing. In some cases this sludge is being incinerated for energy or even being made into construction products. The actual paper pulping process is the same whether the pulp contains virgin or recycled fiber.

Conclusion
The best paper options for environmentally friendly printing are FSC- or PEFC-certified paper with Chain of Custody certification, or 100% post-consumer recycled paper, or a combination of the two. These options ensure minimal impact on the environment, and in the case of recycled paper, have the benefit of reducing landfill too.

What you choose may come down to personal preference or the look and feel of the paper stock itself. The important thing is to check for the relevant certification, and if you are using commercial printers or paper suppliers, discuss these points with them to ensure that they can provide full chain of custody certification for their papers.