A Contributed Post: Greener Printing–Should You Be Bothered About The Paper You Use?
Most people that use a computer also print out items on paper. In an office environment, documents and graphic items get printed on a frequent basis. As you can appreciate, a lot of paper gets used in those applications.
The majority of home and business printer users opt for the cheapest paper they can get. Despite the obvious cost advantage, there is one downside: the environmental impact.
Should it bother you what type of paper you use?
In a word, yes. Recycled paper uses 30,000 liters less water per ton than the conventional paper. The process also uses 27% less energy and CO2 emissions are 20% less in the production process.
There’s also the question of deforestation. Although rates have dropped in recent years, it’s still a big problem. According to the infographic below, 100 acres of trees per MINUTE are getting felled.
Did you know that a single tree takes 20 years to grow? It only takes just ten minutes to fell.
Recycled paper: the other benefits
As you can see from the facts above, there is a strong case to use recycled paper for moral reasons. But, what about financial ones? The good news is that recycled paper is getting cheaper to buy. Of course, prices will only continue to drop if we buy more of it.
The quality of recycled paper is just as good as the non-recycled equivalent. So, from a cost and performance perspective, there isn’t a reason not to use recycled paper.
Infographic Produced By 29 Fascinating Recycling Stats
When to not use recycled paper. I have over a hundred acres of forest land including some acres that are set aside for the growing of pines for paper pulp. Virgin pulp is used in nearly all paper products including many of the recycled grades. 100 percent recycled fiber is a challenge to stick together in a sheet. The fibers are too short. A percentage of virgin pulp is used to keep the fiber length optimal.
Another reason to not use recycled fiber is in the sanitary product market. Even though recycled paper is de-inked, most people do not want to use food grade or hygiene products that have come out of a chemical slurry that may contain carcinogenic materials.
Recycled fibers find their nitche in corrugated boxes, newsprint, computer paper, tag board and other uses that have a low risk of introducing toxins into our bodies.
I have seen coffee filters marketed as containing recycled paper. I don’t consider this to be a positive selling point for anyone who is green of any shade.
This is very interesting–and important, Larry. Thanks very much.