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Millions of trees are cut each year to meet the demand for paper in our information age. Recycling paper preserves forests, saves landfill space, decreases air and water pollution and results in the use of less water, energy and toxic chemicals. Even though current recycling efforts save over 200 million trees annually, a substantial portion of our used paper still ends up in our landfills. Over half of these landfills will be closed within the next ten years.
By now, just about everyone has joined in the effort to separate out paper for recycling. Unfortunately, far fewer of us make the extra effort to request recycled paper when we order new paper products or printed materials. Because the supply of recycled waste paper which we have collected usually exceeds the demand for new recycled paper, the output of most paper mills still consists of paper made primarily from virgin wood fiber.
Unfortunately, for most "recycled" printing paper, the recycled content consists primarily, and often exclusively of pre-consumer waste, that is, mill trimmings, obsolete inventories, uncirculated magazines and newspapers, and other printed and unprinted materials that have never reached the end consumer. New printing paper with substantial post-consumer content, the paper that you and I recycle, is still relatively rare. Coated (glossy and mat) paper, which can contain up to 50% clay and other fillers by weight, is considerably more costly to recycle, and results in toxic sludge which must be properly disposed of if that type of paper is to be recycled into most types of new printing or writing paper.
For an excellent overview of current recycled paper trends and terminology, check with the experts at Conservatree. A very good example of 100% post-consumer printing paper, which is not secondarily bleached, and which is high on our recommended list is Domtar Sandpiper.
Vegetable inks wash out of paper pulp more easily than inks which are primarily made from petroleum.
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Contact: info@ecographics.com
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