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Date: 27 February, 2002
With a modest 5% of the world's population, the United States uses one-third
of the paper produced on the planet. This should come as no surprise since
billions of third-class mailings reach homes and businesses daily. Paper is
also a favored packaging material which accounts for 48% of all paper used
in the U.S. And the "paperless office," an early prediction for the
electronic era, has simply failed to materialize. According to an analysis
in Worldwatch Institute's "State of the World 2000" (Recovering the Paper
Landscape), "the proliferation of computers and other new technologies such
as fax and high-speed printers and copiers has gone hand-in-hand with
increased use of printing and writing papers."
The myth of the paperless office is accompanied by the fantasy that paper
recycling is eliminating planetary costs of paper production. In fact, while
used paper in the U.S. is being diverted to recycling at a rate over 40%,
paper still accounts for almost 40% (by weight) of municipal solid waste
discarded each year. According to Worldwatch's analysis, 44 million tons of
waste paper are discarded in the U.S. each year - more than all the paper
consumed in China.
Environmental costs of our paper consumption, although not generally
communicated to the public, are outlined in every introductory environmental
studies course. The ecological price of paper is wide-ranging, including
threats to the world's forests - 17 trees and 7,000 gallons of water are
required to produce a ton of paper, increases in global warming - 4,200
kilowatts of energy are required to produce a ton of paper, and pollution of
air and water - zenoestrogenic effects in wildlife, for example, have been
linked to dioxin discharges from pulp and paper mills.
An unintended by-product of dozens of chlorine-based industrial and chemical
processes, dioxin is formed in the pulp and paper industry when chlorine or
chlorine dioxide is used to bleach paper for better whiteness. Dioxin
(shorthand for a group of 75 chemicals) is no less dangerous than PCBs or
DDT. Dioxin, actually, is more toxic, longer-lived and even more likely to
accumulate in living organisms. Scientists note that nearly everyone carries
traces of dioxin in their body, and its role as a human carcinogen has been
confirmed in numerous studies.
A popular bumper sticker reads åStop beating trees to a pulp.¼ Practicing
the three R's - reduce, reuse and recycle - answers this call to action.
Discover, too, papers which have less environmental impact, for example
Kenaf paper, tree-free and chlorine-free. Help bring down the ecological
price of paper.
Act today on this EcoAlert and thank you for your environmental
responsibility.
NEW Address:
American P.I.E.
Public Information on the Environment
P.O. Box 676
Northfield, MN 55057-0676
Telephone: 1-800-320-APIE(2743); fax 507-645-5724
E-mail: Info@AmericanPIE.org
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