Like it or not, we use paper every day. It has become a vital part of our lives. Even in today’s digital world, papers contribute a whopping 26% of the total waste in landfills. The projected domestic consumption is set to rise to 22 million tonnes per annum by 2024. But, with a typical profit margin of less than 4%, the switch to Ethical papers becomes convincing for industries.
Why Ethical papers? Here’s what you need to know:
DOWNSIDES OF USING WHITE PAPER:
White paper is the most widely known type of paper used in copiers, charts, and other daily use. By 2024, India is expected to consume 11.8 million tonnes per annum of writing paper. Everything from notebooks, printing copiers, flyers, to charts, white paper is used. It might surprise you to learn their downsides:
WATER CONSUMPTION
Considering all the steps for making a paper, growing a tree, making the pulp, and bleaching the paper, a typical A4 size sheet could use up to 20 liters of water. Not only that, an industry consumes 50,000-60,000 liters of water every day! Manufacturing white paper is no joke.
RECYCLING
With only about 20% of waste paper collected properly for recycling, the landfill volume share specifically for papers is quite huge. Proper disposal of papers-for recycling-is low in India.
ENVIRONMENTAL EFFECTS
A total of 386 million hectares of forest were lost globally (in all forest types combined) between 2001 - 2019. This loss represents an almost 10 % decrease in tree cover since 2000. Most of the trees were used for paper manufacturing. Pulp and paper is the 3rd largest industrial polluter of air, water, and soil. Chlorine-based bleaches are used during production which results in toxic materials being released into our water, air, and soil. When paper rots, it emits methane gas which is 28-30 times more toxic than CO2.
ENERGY USAGE
A misguided belief floats around that recycling papers consumes more energy than manufacturing virgin papers. When you consider the impacts, resources perished - white papers, do consume more energy.
WHAT IS AN ETHICAL PAPER?
Ethical Paper is 100% post-consumer recycled and doesn’t use any raw materials through cutting trees. They can be used as copiers, notebooks, diary bookmarks, packaging wrappers, and so on.
Here’s a short video showing a Diary made from Ethical Paper:
[[embed https://www.youtube.com/shorts/18JRcx2IpQE]]
ADVANTAGES OF ETHICAL PAPER:
Ethical papers have many advantages over white papers. Sure, they don’t look as nice as virgin white papers. The benefits offered in today’s world could outperform looks. After all, it is about shifting the perspective towards sustainability. Ethical papers have a lot going for them:
ENVIRONMENTAL BENEFITS
The obvious one. Burying papers in landfills causes them to contribute to Greenhouse Gases in the form of methane (CH4) which is 28-30 times more potent for global warming than CO2.
With 100% recycled papers, you can be sure they don’t end up in landfills without good reason.
Emissions are reduced by over 20% when compared to the incineration of papers. Deforestation is prevented and bleaching - releasing harmful chemical water - becomes unnecessary.
COMMERCIAL ADVANTAGES
Brand Recognition:
Using Ethical papers could help build a sustainable brand. The Green-Label would help customers make better decisions while purchasing papers.
Corporate Social Responsibility:
The Cop26 Climate Change Conference’s 2070 Net-Zero target emissions goal would require businesses to become sustainable as well. Cutting down on white paper could contribute much towards that goal.
RESOURCES CONSERVATION
Using ethical paper saves around 55,000 liters of water per day.
Manufacturing Ethical paper saves up to 70% of energy than virgin white paper.
CONCLUSION:
Ethical papers have clear advantages over normal white papers. It is only a matter of time before businesses start adopting this better alternative. With increasing research in the technology of Ethical papers, they could be on par with the looks and quality of white papers.
You can check out our Ethical paper collection along with other stationaries to take the step towards sustainability.
Contributed by: Sayee Saran