The choice: recycled vs. virgin paper
By Christina Claassen Posted Sat, Sep 1 2001
If magazine reading is your favorite recreational activity, you have a great variety of choices. Magazines are found on newsstands everywhere, with publications as specialized as equine sciences, farming techniques and mountain climbing. But reading, although often cheap, can come at a high price to Mother Nature. The world’s forests, energy and air suffer from the high volume of tree fibers and chemicals used to create virgin paper, a paper that comes from trees in old-growth forests rather than from recycled products.
The use of virgin paper is damaging to the environment because it leads to widespread deforestation, which causes soil and habitat degradation. In the United States alone, 95 percent of all magazines use virgin paper, which accounts for 35 million trees being cut down each year, according to Co-Op America, a nonprofit group that advocates using recycled paper for magazine printing. Along with deforestation and air pollution, paper mills use high amounts of water and energy in the production process.
A study released in May by the nonprofit P.A.P.E.R. Project addressed the wasteful and damaging results of printing on virgin paper. The P.A.P.E.R. Project, or Printing Alternatives Promoting Environmental Responsibility, is a U.S.-based joint project of Co-Op America, Conservatree and the Independent Press Association. Together they promote the use of recycled papers in the industry.
“We really are concentrating on getting people to switch from using virgin paper to 10-percent post-consumer recycled paper,” says Martha Bowen, project coordinator for the Independent Press Association. The U. S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) requires paper to contain 10-percent recovered fiber to be called recycled.
While the project also says that the pulping and bleaching process creates dioxins, chemicals that the EPA considers carcinogenic, Rita Cohen, Magazine Publishers of America’s senior vice president for legislative and regulatory issues, says that this claim is false. Since June of 1998, the EPA has required pulping and bleaching mills to eliminate dioxin discharges from their processes.
The pulp and paper industry as a whole, not just the magazine and newspaper sector, is the third largest energy consuming industry in the United States behind the petroleum and coal industry and chemical manufacturing according to the U.S. Department of Energy.
Although the P.A.P.E.R. project emphasizes that these numbers can be reduced through the use of recycled paper, Hans Wegner, director of production services for National Geographic, says the issue is much more complex than simply switching to recycled product.
“One of the problems with recycled paper is that, in order to make the fiber usable in paper like ours, you have to do a lot of bleaching and cleaning,” he explains. “The more cleaning you have to do, the more residual material is left that has to be disposed of.”
He explains that most recycled material has to be strained of the glues, bindings and ink in order to get to the actual fiber, and the fiber itself is shortened and weakened. This can pose problems for printing presses whose machines are costly to run and require clean, high-quality paper to ensure efficiency. He suggests that recycled paper is better used in products where high quality is not as important, like in cardboard, packaging, egg cartons and newsprint.
National Geographic does use 10- to 15-percent recycled product in its cover, though, because the company that prints the cover buys paper with recycled content from sources like the U.S. Postal Service and envelope companies, whose recycled products are cleaner.
A spokeswoman for Condé Nast, the publisher of Glamour, Vogue and 14 other major magazines, would not comment on the type of paper its publications use but did say the company was trying to be environmentally aware.
“The entire publishing industry as represented by the Magazine Publishers of America is working very hard to be as environmentally responsible as is feasible with today’s technology,” says Maurie Perl, senior vice president of corporate communications for Condé Nast.
The MPA has had an active environmental role, Cohen says, and the industry works closely with paper mills to ensure that sustainable forests specifically grown for pulp are maintained so that these, rather than virgin forests, provide the industry’s paper needs.
Many smaller magazines are switching from virgin paper to recycled paper. The P.A.P.E.R. Project has helped hundreds of magazines like Amicus Journal, Mother Jones and Sierra switch to as much as 40-percent recycled paper.
In a study by the Worldwatch Institute, global paper use has grown more than sixfold since 1950. The study outlines some other ways nations have reduced energy consumption and pollution. Scandinavia, for example, has cut chlorine from most of its production and has seen dioxin levels fall. Japan has cut the amount of energy used to make a ton of paper.
In Europe, the International Federation of Periodical Press (FIPP) and the European Federation of Magazine Publishers (FAEP) did a report on paper use in the industry. The project, the Environment Position Paper, recognizes that the publishing of magazines has an effect on the environment and recommends that paper manufacturers, printers and publishers work together to use recycled products. It also encourages publishers to minimize unsold copies and overproduction, although most unsold copies are recycled for newsprint by wholesalers.
The newspaper industry has been friendlier to the earth within the last decade. In fact most newspapers in the United States are printed on recycled paper. Since the type of paper used for printing is of a lower grade than magazine paper, it was easier for newspapers to make the switch.
“Newspapers as an industry are really more advanced than magazines. They made an effort to make the transition 10 years ago after concerns from readers and pressure from environmental groups,” says Todd Larsen of Co-Op America.
The P.A.P.E.R. Project lists recommendations on its Web site encouraging both readers and magazine publishers to buy publications printed on chlorine-free paper or with 30-percent or more recycled product.
Wegner adds, “Maximizing the amount of pounds you recover, minimizing the amount of cleaning and maximizing the use of that recycled material in products where it doesn’t matter if the final product is perfectly clean is most important.”
IPI Global Journalist uses 10-percent recycled paper and black soy ink.
Christina Claassen is an assistant editor for IPI Global Journalist and a student at the Missouri School of Journalism.
The Choice, Recylced VS. Virgin Paper
The world’s forests, energy and air suffer from the high volume of tree fibers and chemicals used to create virgin paper, but recycled paper may be just as environmentally costly.
By Christina Claassen
If magazine reading is your favorite recreational activity, you have a great variety of choices. Magazines are found on newsstands everywhere, with publications as specialized as equine sciences, farming techniques and mountain climbing. But reading, although often cheap, can come at a high price to Mother Nature. The world’s forests, energy and air suffer from the high volume of tree fibers and chemicals used to create virgin paper, a paper that comes from trees in old-growth forests rather than from recycled products.
The use of virgin paper is damaging to the environment because it leads to widespread deforestation, which causes soil and habitat degradation. In the United States alone, 95 percent of all magazines use virgin paper, which accounts for 35 million trees being cut down each year, according to Co-Op America, a nonprofit group that advocates using recycled paper for magazine printing. Along with deforestation and air pollution, paper mills use high amounts of water and energy in the production process.
A study released in May by the nonprofit P.A.P.E.R. Project addressed the wasteful and damaging results of printing on virgin paper. The P.A.P.E.R. Project, or Printing Alternatives Promoting Environmental Responsibility, is a U.S.-based joint project of Co-Op America, Conservatree and the Independent Press Association. Together they promote the use of recycled papers in the industry.
“We really are concentrating on getting people to switch from using virgin paper to 10-percent post-consumer recycled paper,” says Martha Bowen, project coordinator for the Independent Press Association. The U. S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) requires paper to contain 10-percent recovered fiber to be called recycled.
While the project also says that the pulping and bleaching process creates dioxins, chemicals that the EPA considers carcinogenic, Rita Cohen, Magazine Publishers of America’s senior vice president for legislative and regulatory issues, says that this claim is false. Since June of 1998, the EPA has required pulping and bleaching mills to eliminate dioxin discharges from their processes.
The pulp and paper industry as a whole, not just the magazine and newspaper sector, is the third largest energy consuming industry in the United States behind the petroleum and coal industry and chemical manufacturing according to the U.S. Department of Energy.
Although the P.A.P.E.R. project emphasizes that these numbers can be reduced through the use of recycled paper, Hans Wegner, director of production services for National Geographic, says the issue is much more complex than simply switching to recycled product.
“One of the problems with recycled paper is that, in order to make the fiber usable in paper like ours, you have to do a lot of bleaching and cleaning,” he explains. “The more cleaning you have to do, the more residual material is left that has to be disposed of.”
He explains that most recycled material has to be strained of the glues, bindings and ink in order to get to the actual fiber, and the fiber itself is shortened and weakened. This can pose problems for printing presses whose machines are costly to run and require clean, high-quality paper to ensure efficiency. He suggests that recycled paper is better used in products where high quality is not as important, like in cardboard, packaging, egg cartons and newsprint.
National Geographic does use 10- to 15-percent recycled product in its cover, though, because the company that prints the cover buys paper with recycled content from sources like the U.S. Postal Service and envelope companies, whose recycled products are cleaner.
A spokeswoman for Condé Nast, the publisher of Glamour, Vogue and 14 other major magazines, would not comment on the type of paper its publications use but did say the company was trying to be environmentally aware.
“The entire publishing industry as represented by the Magazine Publishers of America is working very hard to be as environmentally responsible as is feasible with today’s technology,” says Maurie Perl, senior vice president of corporate communications for Condé Nast.
The MPA has had an active environmental role, Cohen says, and the industry works closely with paper mills to ensure that sustainable forests specifically grown for pulp are maintained so that these, rather than virgin forests, provide the industry’s paper needs.
Many smaller magazines are switching from virgin paper to recycled paper. The P.A.P.E.R. Project has helped hundreds of magazines like Amicus Journal, Mother Jones and Sierra switch to as much as 40-percent recycled paper.
In a study by the Worldwatch Institute, global paper use has grown more than sixfold since 1950. The study outlines some other ways nations have reduced energy consumption and pollution. Scandinavia, for example, has cut chlorine from most of its production and has seen dioxin levels fall. Japan has cut the amount of energy used to make a ton of paper.
In Europe, the International Federation of Periodical Press (FIPP) and the European Federation of Magazine Publishers (FAEP) did a report on paper use in the industry. The project, the Environment Position Paper, recognizes that the publishing of magazines has an effect on the environment and recommends that paper manufacturers, printers and publishers work together to use recycled products. It also encourages publishers to minimize unsold copies and overproduction, although most unsold copies are recycled for newsprint by wholesalers.
The newspaper industry has been friendlier to the earth within the last decade. In fact most newspapers in the United States are printed on recycled paper. Since the type of paper used for printing is of a lower grade than magazine paper, it was easier for newspapers to make the switch.
“Newspapers as an industry are really more advanced than magazines. They made an effort to make the transition 10 years ago after concerns from readers and pressure from environmental groups,” says Todd Larsen of Co-Op America.
The P.A.P.E.R. Project lists recommendations on its Web site encouraging both readers and magazine publishers to buy publications printed on chlorine-free paper or with 30-percent or more recycled product.
Wegner adds, “Maximizing the amount of pounds you recover, minimizing the amount of cleaning and maximizing the use of that recycled material in products where it doesn’t matter if the final product is perfectly clean is most important.”