Earth Friendly
It’s no secret that paper production taxes forests, water, and energy supplies. In fact, eco-advocacy group Environmental Defense estimates that producing one ton of virgin uncoated paper — which accounts for 90 percent of the United States’ printing and writing paper — requires three tons of wood, 19,075 gallons of water, and generates 2,278 pounds of solid waste.
Moreover, many white papers are bleached via a chlorination process that releases dangerous chemicals and pollutants into the water, according to sustainable-design Web site Renourish.
“The printing industry is the single largest air polluter and the third-largest consumer of fossil fuels in the world after automobiles and steel manufacturing,” said Renourish Founder and University of Illinois Design Professor Eric Benson. “On a typical day, [printers] use trillions of gallons of water that must be treated for its toxic chemical content and released back into our waterways.”
The printing process itself is equally hazardous: Many of the solvents, shellacs, driers, and other solutions employed in producing film, printing plates, and cleaning the presses are toxic pollutants.
Happily, eco-friendly options are on the rise.
- Forest Friendly papers (Forest Stewardship Council, Sustainable Forestry Initiative, Sustainable Green Printing Partnership)
- Vegetable or soy based inks or toner with low VOCs
- Recyclable or made from Recycled products
- Products made from renewable products
- Manufacturing of the products is from minimal, sustainable and renewable energy
- Manufacturers committed to protecting our environment.
- Chlorine Free
- Minimal waste
