Recycled paper is one of the first things most people think of when you say you are an environmentally friendly printer. Rightly so.
There are three main reasons to use recycled fibre:
1. Lower resource use: Paper manufacture is very resource-intensive. It simply makes no sense to use paper only once, when it can be so easily re-used.
2. Less landfill: Recycling reduces the amount of waste paper going to landfill. As it biodegrades in landfill (anaerobic conditions), paper produces methane, which is 23 times more powerful than CO2.
3. No harm to forests: Only when using 100 percent recycled paper can you can be absolutely sure that your product has not had a detrimental effect on any forest.
Friends of the Earth estimate that one tonne of recycled paper saves approximately six mature trees and 3.3 cubic yards of rapidly diminishing landfill space.
Waste Watch estimate that for every tonne of paper recycled from post-consumer waste it saves at least 30,000 litres of water, nearly as much as two average people use in a year and 3,000 – 4,000 KWh of electricity which is enough to power an average 3 bedroom house for a year.
Paper is broadly categorised as either recycled or virgin fibre. However within recycled the fibre can either be recycled from post-consumer waste or from pre-consumer waste.
Post-consumer waste is when the product has reached the end consumer, and is then recycled.
Pre-consumer waste (sometimes known as post-industrial waste) describes printers’ waste, such as off-cuts and unused copies, which may have been over-ordered as well as mill broke, waste paper from the paper mill itself.
With virgin fibre, the most environmentally friendly option are those papers that are FSC, Forestry Stewardship Council accredited, this ensures they are from sustainable forests.
However, the most environmentally friendly option is recycled paper with the high levels of post-consumer waste.
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