Each office worker uses about 10,000 sheets of copier paper annually [3] -- enough that buying processed chlorine-free paper with higher levels of postconsumer recycled content can significantly reduce environmental impacts.
Environmental and Health Issues
Recycled Content
Compared to virgin paper manufacturing, making paper from recycled material reduces climate-changing gas emissions, requires less energy, lowers air pollution, and effluent flows [4], and conserves landfill space. 30 percent postconsumer recycled content copier paper is the norm in many State offices. Some organizations are going farther by switching to 100 percent postconsumer recycled content processed chlorine-free copier paper, which is made entirely from paper that has been used by consumers and then collected through recycling programs.
- Thirty (30) percent postconsumer recycled content copier paper contains 70 percent virgin tree fiber. According to estimates from paper industry experts, making that paper requires one tree for every two and a half cases of paper [5]; however, making 100 percent postconsumer recycled content paper requires no new trees to be harvested.
- Saving trees and habitats isn't the only benefit. Producing 100 percent instead of 30 percent postconsumer recycled content office paper reduces climate-changing gas emissions by about 30 percent, requires 35 percent less energy, and reduces effluent discharges by more than 40 percent [6].
What to look for: Look for paper with higher levels of postconsumer recycled content.
Bleaching Chemicals
Additional benefits come from choosing paper made with less or no chlorine. Bleaching (whitening) paper pulp with elemental chlorine or chlorine compounds produces chlorinated pollutants, such as dioxin, in the wastewater stream. [7],[8] According to the United States Environmental Protection Agency, dioxin "is a toxic industrial pollutant that is … persistent in the environment. It accumulates in the fat tissue of animals and humans and has been linked to adverse human health effects, including cancer and toxicity to reproductive, immunologic, and endocrine systems." [9] Totally chlorine-free bleaching, which uses alternative bleaching agents, such as oxygen and peroxide, eliminates dioxins and other chlorinated pollutants from the wastewater stream. [10] In order to reduce potential risks, a number of paper manufacturers are switching to chlorine-free technologies.
What to look for: When buying copier paper, choose chlorine-free or less-chlorinated products by looking for the following language on labels and in catalogs:
"Totally chlorine-free" (TCF). This applies to tree-free or virgin paper fiber that is unbleached or processed without chlorine or chlorine derivatives.
"Processed chlorine-free" (PCF) applies to recycled paper fiber that is unbleached or bleached without chlorine or chlorine derivatives; however, since some of the waste paper being recycled may previously have been bleached with chlorine, recycled paper labeled PCF can not be labeled TCF. If the final product contains any virgin or tree-free fiber, then that fiber must be TCF.
"Elemental chlorine-free" (ECF) paper fiber is bleached with chlorine derivatives that produce fewer dioxins than elemental chlorine.
Fiber
In papermaking, a fiber is a tiny thread-like unit of vegetable growth. [11] Fiber is the main component of copier paper, and it can come from sources such as trees, recovered paper, agricultural residues (e.g. bagasse, which is sugarcane residue), and on-purpose non-tree crops (e.g., kenaf, hemp, and flax).
What to look for: Here is a hierarchy of fiber to consider, starting with the most environmentally preferable fiber:
- Postconsumer content fiber
- Agricultural residue fiber
- On-purpose non-tree crop fiber and/or fiber from sustainably harvested non-old growth and non-endangered forests.
Fiber to Avoid: Forests can be rich sources of biodiversity. [12] They are important for fish and wildlife habitat; provide food, shelter, and aesthetic and recreational benefits to humans; help slow global warming by storing and sequestering carbon; and help regulate local and regional rainfall. [13] Avoid paper made from fiber from old growth forests, endangered forests, and unsustainably harvested forests. These terms may be defined differently by different parties, so to err on the safer side, consider purchasing 100 percent postconsumer recycled content paper, which contains no new tree fiber. Postconsumer material is a low-risk fiber source. You may also wish to consider papers for which the content has been certified by an independent third party, such as the Forest Stewardship Council or the Chlorine Free Products Association.
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