Little Green Steps: Disposable Paper Products
added 02/23/09
by Emily Neuman
Sustainability Coordinator
In recent years, China has provided a strong market for the paper that American consumers recycle. In late 2008, that market nearly disappeared, and New England recyclers began stockpiling mixed paper, waiting for the markets to recover.
Regionally manufactured bath tissue is one of the few consumer items likely to hold its own in our slowing economy, and it can be made from 100 percent recycled fiber. Marcal Paper Products, for example, uses paper recycled in Northeastern cities as the raw material for the bath tissue that it manufactures in New Jersey.
Not all bath tissue contains recycled fibers. At the Co-op, consumers have a choice. The Co-op carries three lines with high recycled content: Marcal, Green Forest, and Seventh Generation. All three received high marks from the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) in 2005. The Co-op also carries bath tissue made with 100 percent virgin fibers, including Scott and Cottonelle.
Is Recycled Better?
As one of the largest tissue manufacturers in the world, Kimberly-Clark, the manufacturer of Scott and Cottonelle bath tissue, has been under pressure to incorporate recycled fibers into its consumer products.
In 2007, Kimberly-Clark commissioned a life-cycle assessment of its bath tissue to determine whether using recycled fibers would reduce the environmental impact of its products. Under 2007 conditions, the study concluded that neither virgin nor recycled fiber was preferable.
The study’s authors provided recommendations for how to improve fiber-sourcing and manufacturing processes to reduce the environmental impact, no matter what fiber sources are used. While Kimberly-Clark has decided to stick with virgin fiber for most of its consumer product line, municipalities trying to sell mixed paper might prefer that they make the production changes necessary to use recycled fibers sustainably.
At the Co-op
Sales reports show that many Co-op shoppers do buy recycled-content paper products. Looking at all paper towel, bath tissue, and facial tissue sales in the second half of 2008, three out of five of the Co-op’s top-selling items were made with recycled content: Seventh Generation Bath Tissue 4-pack, Green Forest Bath Tissue 4-pack, and Seventh Generation Paper Towels.
Recycled-content paper products will be featured—and on sale—at the Co-op in April.
Little Green Steps
- Consider replacing throw-away paper products with washable materials: handkerchiefs, cloth towels, and cloth napkins.
- Where you haven’t switched to cloth, switch to paper products that you know contain recycled content and that use a chlorine-free production process.
What Do You Think?
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