Two Sides and Paperitalo Publications are assisting the American Forest & Paper Association (AF&PA) in raising awareness about misleading claims currently being used by an environmental organization called Green America.
"Green America is contacting universities and encouraging them to print their publications on recycled paper," said Phil Riebel, President of Two Sides North America. "This in itself is not the issue, but Green America is making several misleading and incorrect claims on the environmental savings of using recycled paper."
One claim Green America is making is, "Recycled paper has been proven to be more sustainable than virgin fiber paper." Riebel said the dogmatic assertion that recycled is always better than virgin fiber is simply not true. The facts are that both virgin and recycled papers can be sustainable choices, depending on the many variables associated with each individual paper manufacturing facility, including the fiber supply chain and manufacturing process employed to produce the products.
Riebel said a list of schools that have received letters from Green America includes: University of Washington; Brigham Young; University of Arizona; Texas A&M; Northwestern; Ohio State University; Indiana State; University of Virginia; University of Maryland; and Boston University.
Other statements made by Green America assert:
"If all universities used 100% recycled paper for alumni magazines, we would save: The wood equivalent of 1,000,000 trees; 90,000,000 pounds of carbon dioxide emissions; Enough water to fill 700 Olympic-sized swimming pools; Over 16,000 tons of solid waste from new paper production."
Two Sides is encouraging folks to check out their fact sheet for more details on why wood fiber from well managed forests and recycled fiber are both essential to sustain the paper life cycle.
Regarding the universities, Green America said, "We're starting with these 10 universities, where students and alumni are working with us to create change. If you are affiliated with any of these schools ... send a message urging them to make the Better Paper Commitment!"
We in the pulp and paper industry need to have our voices heard, too. Riebel is encouraging folks to use and modify this example email to the University of Virginia to contact their college alma mater, "so that the alumni associations receive an alternative point of view."
"The pulp and paper industry around the world is misunderstood, thanks to some old practices and some bad propaganda from some environmental groups," said Paperitalo CEO Jim Thompson. "The reality today is pulp and paper mills in North America operate according to very strict environmental standards." |
