PRINTED MATTER

For most of its history, paper existed as a precious and rare commodity. Today, it covers the planet. From the contents of our mail-box, the currency in our wallets, and the containers for our frozen dinners, paper is never far from reach. Global paper use increased more than six-fold over the latter half of the 20th century, and has doubled since the mid-1970s.

About 93 percent of today's paper comes from trees, and paper production is responsible for about a fifth of the total wood harvest worldwide. A sheet of writing paper might contain fibres from hundreds of different trees that have collectively travelled thousands of kilometres from forest to consumer.

Though invented as a tool to communicate, about half the paper in today's consumer society serves another purpose - packaging. This and other rapidly discarded paper now represents a big chunk of the modern waste stream, accounting for roughly 40 percent of the municipal solid waste burden in many industrial countries.

Eco-labelled printed matter products are environmentally preferable because they reduce the sourcing of wood pulp for production from virgin forests, or from timbers harvested in an unsustainable manner. Eco-labelled printed matter is also produced using lower-energy production and reduced chemical and water use.

When recycled, this printed matter inherently reduces the amount of detrimental toxins entering the environment. Thus the environmental loads of eco-labelled printed matter products compared to similar non eco-labelled printed matter products are reduced.

In order to reduce environmental impacts, Manufacturers of printed matter need to consider:

• The reduction of discharges of certain toxic or otherwise polluting substances into waters,

• The reduction of environmental damage or risks related to the use of energy (global warming, acidification, ozone depletion, depletion of non-renewable resources) by reducing energy consumption and related emissions to air,

• The reduction of environmental damage or risks related to the use of hazardous chemicals,

• The application of sustainable management principles in order to safeguard forests.

Some interesting facts:

• Producing one ton of paper requires 2-3 times its weight in trees. Newly cut trees account for 55 percent of the global paper supply, while 38 percent is from recycled wood-based paper, and the remaining 7 percent comes from non-tree sources.

• The pulp and paper industry is the world's fifth largest industrial consumer of energy and uses more water to produce a ton of product than any other industry.

• The group Environmental Defence estimates that if the entire U.S. catalogue industry switched its publications to just 10-percent recycled content paper, the savings in wood alone would be enough to stretch a 1.8-meter-high fence across the United States seven times.

• Making paper from recycled content rather than virgin fibre creates 74 percent less air pollution and 35 percent less water pollution. Yet the share of total paper fibre coming from recycled material has grown only modestly from 20 percent in 1921 to 38 percent today.

• The Gutenberg Bible, the first and second drafts of the U.S. Declaration of Independence, and the original works of Mark Twain were all printed on hemp-based papers.

The Australian Environmental Labelling Association (AELA) has developed two voluntary standards for printed matter:

(1) Good Environmental Choice Standard for Publishers & Published Matter - This standard is used to assess the environmental performance of publsihed matter products to determine if the deserve the Australian 'Good Environmental Choice' Label - including newspapers, magazines and advertising brochures:

GECA 21-2004 - PUBLISHERS & PUBLISHED MATTER

(2) Good Environmental Choice Standard for Printers & Printed Matter - This standard is used to assess the environmental performance of a host of printed patter products to determine if the deserve the Australian 'Good Environmental Choice' Label - including books, notepads, leaflets, envelopes, catalogies and more:

GECA 20-2004 - PRINTERS & PRINTED MATTER

GOOD ENVIRONMENTAL CHOICES

• Look for paper manufactured from plantation forests, rather than virgin forests

• Recycle paper by making discarded paper into note pads.

• Buy paper with at least 30 percent post-consumer recycled content, and encourage your school or workplace to do the same.

• Seek out non-wood paper alternatives made from kenaf, cotton, or other fibres such as hemp. Many “agrifibers” yield more pulp-per-acre than forests or tree farms, and they require fewer pesticides and herbicides.

• Recycle your junk mail, and tell vendors to stop sending it.

• Encourage your local or national government officials to introduce legislation requiring manufacturers to take back the packaging waste from their products.