Myth no. 1: The paper production industry is low on the GHG emitter totem pole.
Not so, actually the paper and pulp industry is the third largest polluter in both Canada and the United States. The Green Press Initiative (GPI) states that one of the biggest benefits of using recycled fiber is that it emits 38 percent less GHGs. Recycled fiber also uses 44 percent less energy to produce, and conserves up to 34 mature trees for every ton replacing virgin fiber.

Myth no. 2: Buying recycled paper doesn’t really help anything, especially climate change.
Far from it. In fact, Triple Pundit points out that paper that ends ups in landfills instead of being recycled gives off methane which has a warming effect 23 times greater than carbon dioxide. According to an Environmental Protection Network (EPN) study, one-third of all waste in landfills is paper, and landfills account for 34 percent of human-related methane emissions. Even more to the point, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) identified paper decomposition as one of the largest sources of landfill methane.

Further, A U.S. EPA study in a Friends of the Earth article concludes that recycling produces fewer greenhouse gas emissions than incineration and landfill. Of course, source reduction (e.g. using less paper in general) is the most environmentally preferable choice.

Myth no. 3: Someone else, or some other business, can buy recycled paper - it’s probably more expensive and looks too “crunchy” for my taste.
That someone is you or your organization. And, as pointed out by A Local Printer, recycled paper is attractive, affordable demand for recycled paper needs to grow, not hault resulting from disinformation. Recycling is only possible if end-markets are created for the products made from recovered waste paper.

Examples of just how huge an impact recycled paper can have on saving trees lie at the feet of corporate America. And, an article from Business Pundit spells it out this week:

Drumroll please….

According to Bank of America’s corporate website (Voted No.1 of 25 companies in America for going green), the company reduced paper use by 32% from 2000-2005, despite a 24% growth in their customer base. Bank of America also runs an internal recycling program that recycles 30,000 tons of paper each year, good for saving roughly 200,000 trees for each year of the program’s operation.

Starbucks has set in gear a “bean-to-cup” approach, which stresses top efficiency at each link of its global supply chain. By all measures the program appears to be a great success, with the company’s decision to use coffee cup sleeves made of recycled paper saving roughly 78,000 trees per year since 2006.

Weekly picks: ProQuo - not just another stop junk mail service, the Green Guide to printing and the ‘paper or plastic’ question finally answered by Collin Dunn.

Marketing Tip: Release your inner activist for business success. Here is an excellent article by Jerry Stifelman from The Change on integrating good branding at the pressure point of doing things that have supposedly nothing to do with the bottom line (i.e. activism) in order to help your bottom line.

At Green Printer (GP), recycled paper is attractive and affordable. GPs eco-calculator, with sources from the Environmental Defense Fund, helps customers like Best-Western, ReMax, Lush and Aveda go - and stay - green.