Recycled Paper, Sustainable Forestry and Bleaching

Recycled paper, sustainable forestry and bleachingcontent papers under their forest certification labels
to reflect the environmental value of recycling, even
How is paper made?though they can never be sure what forest a
Most paper is made on large machines using arecycled fibre comes from. One has to ask why the
revolving wire mesh called a deckle. A pulp solution offorestry certifiers are bothering to certify European
5% fibres and 95% water is dropped onto the meshpaper products, when all it is achieving is undermining
and the water falls through leaving the entwinedthe demand for recycled papers?
fibres behind. The fibre mat is dried as it is passedRecently, there has been an increase in imported
over large heated cylinders and forms into paper. Aspapers sourced from newly planted eucalyptus trees,
it runs down the machine, the paper surface isprized for its high fibre yields. These are often
smoothed by adding starch and clay fillers. At thecertified with sustainable forestry and/or zero carbon
end of the deckle, the continuous sheet of paper isfootprint labels. Eucalyptus itself is a fast-growing,
wound onto large rolls, later to be cut into sheets.invasive tree originating in arid areas of Australia. Its
Pretty well any kind of fibre can be used for makingspeed of growth can be attributed to its large root
paper, from silk to plastics. Traditionally, cotton ragsnetwork that draws up tremendous amounts of
were used to make high quality paper, but in the lastwater and nutrients from the surrounding area,
hundred years rags have been replaced bythrough transpiration. The result is that other
softwoods – such as spruce, pine, fir, larch andvegetation is unable to grow near the tree, and the
hemlock – as the main fibre source, with thesoil becomes rapidly degraded. Also, due to the
occasional hardwoods, like eucalyptus, aspen or birch.volatile and highly combustible oils in the leaves, a
The trees are mechanically crushed to produce adensely packed plantation presents a serious fire risk.
rough quality paper fibre. More often, the wood isThere are active environmental campaigns in Portugal
cooked with a chlorine or sulphite solution that breaksand South Africa where Eucalyptus is being grown on
down the wood fibres by removing lignin, the naturalagricultural land for paper production. Not only are
glue that binds the fibres together. Chemically pulpedeucalypts damaging the land for short-term export
paper is often called ‘woodfree’ becausegains; they also use up land much needed for
the lignin has been removed. Papers that still containessential food crops. An important lesson is to be
lignin will tend to yellow as they are exposed tolearnt about environmental sustainability here, where
sunlight, so ‘woodfree’ papers are preferredwe mustn’t just myopically focus on carbon
for all quality office and printing grades of paper.dioxide emissions, but instead we need to think more
Why use recycled paper?holistically, and logically: just because a new tree is
As over 50% of all landfill waste is paper-based, thebeing planted, this does not mean the environment is
act of recycling turns a major waste product into abenefiting - it depends what the tree is, and where it
practical resource. To make recycled paper you dois planted.
not have to crush or cook wood to get the fibres,Bleach and secondary whiteners
as paper has already gone through this process theMany virgin fibre papers carry a ‘totally chlorine
first time, so there is a large saving in energy andfree’ (TCF) or ‘elemental chlorine free’
pollution. Used paper can simply be dropped into a(ECF) environmental label. In paper manufacture,
vat of water and the fibres will be released forchlorine oxidants were used in the production of
manufacturing new paper. Heavily-inked papers willpaper fibres derived from trees through the
have the ink skimmed off or dispersed away to‘woodfree’ process. In the past, many
make a greyer coloured recycled paper, whilstpaper mills discharged effluents into rivers that were
lightly-inked office papers and printers’ off cutshigh in chlorine and sulphite pollutants, and this was
can produce whiter recycled papers. A single paperthe main environmental impact associated with paper
fibre can be recycled about five times before itproduction. But in the last twenty years, strict
becomes too short to make a strongly woven paper.emission controls, and the realisation that the mills
Yes, in the grand scheme, virgin paper still needs towere just throwing away costly chemicals that could
be harvested and produced to provide a recycledprofitably be reclaimed, has virtually eliminated such
fibre source, but the ratio should be around 20%pollution. There has also been a move away from
virgin to 80% recycled, not the other way round, assulphates and chlorine-based chemicals (linked to
it is at present.ozone layer destruction) towards more benign
When calculating the energy consumption/ carbonoxygen-based processes to extract the fibres. The
footprint of recycled paper, some producers includevast majority of virgin paper is now chlorine free, and
in their calculations the energy spent in the collectionchoosing a paper based purely on this criterion has
of the used paper, to show recycled paper has avery little impact on current paper production
higher energy footprint than virgin grades. In reality,processes. Recycled paper cannot presently be
the collection of used paper happens anyway, as it isclassed as chlorine free, though, because you can
taken to landfill through local waste collections.never guarantee the source of all recycled fibres.
Therefore, the energy used in collecting used paper isIndeed, many recycled papers contain chlorine from
not an additional energy usage derived from theused papers that were subjected to secondary
recycling process; instead, the energy used in wastebleaching when they were originally made.
paper collection and disposal should be added to theSecondary bleaching is the use of bleaches and
environmental cost of making virgin paper.whiteners to improve the visual appearance of paper.
In general, we should all be wary of quantitativeMost recycled papers are not subject to secondary
assertions that one action or another is more or lessbleaching as it damages the fibres, and the
environmentally beneficial. All these calculations aremaintenance of good fibre strength is essential to the
open to manipulation by interested parties and reflectcreation of quality recycled paper. Recycled papers
current social and market powers. Nature operatesare generally either whiter or greyer depending on
through sustainable cyclical processes and we shouldthe source of the used paper itself. Recycled
also make a qualitative judgement about supportingcommercial waste and lightly inked office papers
similar cyclical processes, like recycling. Sustainableproduce whiter recycled sheets. The lower grade
forestrywaste sources – such as heavily printed
In response to the demand for environmentallymagazines and newspapers - produce greyer
responsible papers, virgin paper manufacturers haverecycled sheets. The availability of ‘high
chosen to certify many of their papers as beingwhite’ recycled pulp is fairly limited and we would
‘sourced from sustainable forests’. As theurge people to use lower grade post-consumer
use of recycled fibre is the most logical environmentalwaste papers where possible, to make use of the
option, it would have been better for thesemountain of waste paper sitting around. In practice
manufacturers to start using more recycled pulp - butthough, greyer paper is much easier to read than high
this would have required considerable investment inwhite papers that often contain optical brighteners
new machinery. It would also undermine the(dyes that absorb light in the ultraviolet and violet
advantage that virgin pulp producers have in passingregion, and re-emit it in the blue region) that reflect
on the cost and responsibilities of disposal. In effect,light back into the eyes.
local council collection services and recycling schemesSo why not lobby your office, business or
are subsidising the Virgin paper manufacturers, and soorganisation to use grey papers? Whiter papers
increasing their profits.aren’t better quality simply because of their
The certification of European virgin papers ascolour. Indeed, once upon a time brown bread used
sustainably sourced changes nothing about howto be regarded as poor quality, and white bread was
these papers are produced. The vast bulk of virginseen as more refined and a premium product.
paper fibres in Europe come from Scandinavian andNowadays, we view white bread as cheap and
North German softwood plantations. These forestsinferior compared to quality wholegrain healthy brown
are often owned by paper producers and have beenbreads. It’s just a question of perception, which
a sustainable source of fibre for the European papercan always be changed for the better.
industry for over a hundred years. Ironically, even theWe hope this information section has been useful to
sustainable forest certification schemes recogniseyou as paper users and would always welcome
that recycling is the best environmental solution forcomments and alterations from any customers or
paper production, and have introduced recycledreaders.