DOWN TO EARTH INSIGHTS

How do you fit in the recyclability equation?

Every user of paper can affect its recyclabiltiy.
Although most paper can be 100% recyclable, there are many things that can happen along the way that affect the recycling process – from addition of other materials in converting paper to contamination of paper recycling collection bins. For maximum recyclability, every user in the life of paper should make choices that allow optimum recovery and reuse of the valuable natural wood fibers in paper that make it such a sustainable product.

It takes both new and recycled fiber to meet the world’s demand.
Paper recycling is a highly evolved process that has made it possible to recover a high percentage of paper for use in new paper products. Both new fiber and recycled fiber are necessary because the world needs more fiber than is currently available from working forests. Countries like China that do not have ready access to new fiber use a high percentage of the fiber originally created and recovered in the U.S., Europe and Japan.

Paper is renewable, reusable and recyclable.
Renewing your resources is just as important as reusing your products. Paper lets you do both. By recycling, we recover and reuse the natural wood fibers. By using new fibers, we help ensure that U.S. forests are managed responsibly and that new forests are planted. The private landowners who supply more than 90% of the wood harvested in the U.S. plant about four million trees each day.

Is it worth printing?

Print pays off when used in a smart media mix.
Used wisely, print can drive revenue and be a valuable part of a smart media mix. That’s why, for example, U.S. advertisers spend $167 per person in direct mail marketing to earn $2,095 worth of goods per person. They’re scoring a return on investment of 13 to 1. With the right mix, it’s worth printing.

Know the markets to promote print’s highest value.
Printers need to take an active role in helping their clients understand the valuable role paper can play in the media mix. Know the statistics and promote print where it has the most value and gets the best return on investment. Use knowledge to teach customers when it’s worth printing.

Print pays back to the environment and keeps forests growing.
The facts support printing as a responsible way to maximize your marketing budget when correctly targeted. The industry is accountable for its actions and has steadily improved its environmental footprint over the years. When the demand for paper diminishes, it contributes to our forestlands being sold for other crops or for development purposes. Using paper helps give landowners an incentive for growing and responsibly managing forests. It’s worth printing.

How does using paper lead to more trees?

Landowners need incentives to keep forests growing.
If landowners can’t afford to pay rising property and estate taxes, or if the financial temptations of urban sprawl are too great, then our nation’s trees are at risk of disappearing forever. Maintaining productive sustainable forests provides income for landowners and keeps forests growing.

When you buy paper, you help keep forests growing.
It’s true. In the next 30 years the U.S. could lose 44 million acres of forest to development.* When you use paper, you help keep trees growing. *According to USDA estimates.

Trees are planted in greater numbers than they are harvested.
Since the 1940s, annual growth of new trees has always exceeded the number cut down. By 1992, tree growth outpaced harvest by 34 percent and the volume of wood in the forest was 360 percent more than in 1920.

How do certification labels and logos benefit you?

Multiple certifications have real benefits.
Don’t limit yourself to one certification system—get dual or tri-certified by the same auditor for about the same price. Multiple routes to certification have led to improved standards and more options for obtaining certified products. This availability also helps keep costs down.

Consumers prefer certified products.
Nearly 70 percent of consumers in the U.S. and Canada would choose a product that is made using responsible sources of wood fiber if there were an identifying label or claim on the product.

Certification labels and logos show customers you care.
On-product labels show proof of the product’s adherence to certification standards. Promotional logos are a way for companies to advertise their commitment to protecting the future of our forests, but do not indicate product certification. Both require prior approval, which ensures that when a customer sees a label or logo they know that the company making the product supports and values sustainability.

Are pixels greener than paper?

Paper is more sustainable than electronic media.
Paper is truly sustainable, with waste fully recoverable, ready for recycling into new paper. When people use more paper, landowners plant more trees. Electronic devices don’t grow on trees. The electronic industry continues to grow rapidly. Based on current non-renewable raw materials and escalating energy demands, this growth is unsustainable.

Powering a computer takes a lot of energy.
On average it takes 500 kilowatt-hours of electricity to produce 440 lbs. of paper, the typical amount of paper each of us consumes annually. That’s the equivalent of powering one computer continuously for five months.

Use a balance of media for the most sustainable future.
The future sustainability of our society is dependent upon sustainable supply chains over the lifecycle of the medium with which we choose to communicate. The ultimate question is not electronics or paper, but what combination of these has the least total impact on our environment.

How big is your carbon footprint?

Choose suppliers who are actively reducing their carbon footprint.
When you buy products from companies that are actively reducing their carbon footprint through use of carbon-neutral fuels, recycling and energy conservation, you are reducing your own impact.

Well-managed forests and forest products sequester carbon.
Sequestering carbon in well-managed forests and in the forest products you buy helps to offset emissions. This is essential in maintaining a balanced carbon cycle.

Our personal choices can make a big difference.
We have real choices in our everyday lives that empower us to reduce our carbon footprint, from carpooling to reducing daily energy consumption at home. Together we can make a big difference.

Is recycled paper the best you can do?

Recycled paper isn’t the only answer.
Recycling isn’t the only answer in our quest for sustainable living. Virgin fiber from well-managed forests—a renewable and abundant resource—is necessary in achieving real sustainability and meeting the ever-rising demand for paper.

Virgin fiber can be downcycled.
You don’t have to trade quality for a better environment. With good conscience, you can use virgin paper for your high-quality printing needs knowing that the fiber can be downcycled to reduce pressures on our fragile ecosystem.

Balancing virgin and recovered fiber makes the best sense.
Virgin and recovered fiber are complementary, and both are important. The proper balance isn’t seen so much in the fiber content of a single paper product as it is in global fiber usage, in the way virgin and recycled fibers are distributed and used around the world. Papermakers in some places must rely more on recycled fiber. Those in other areas have easier access to renewable virgin fiber. Both kinds of fiber must be carefully managed and balanced to sustainably meet world demand.

Where does your paper come from?

All third-party certifications support responsible forestry.
Don’t get hung up on one certification system. Multiple routes to certification have led to improved standards and more options for obtaining certified products. This availability keeps costs down. All third-party certifications are helping to ensure that more and more forests are being properly managed for the future.

Buying paper is a commitment to the environment.
You know that trees make paper, but paper also makes trees. The demand for paper drives growth of the forests. That’s the beauty of a renewable resource. It’s important to buy from a company with a demonstrated commitment to environmental stewardship.

Paper is both renewable and recyclable.
Properly managed forests are an asset we can all appreciate. Combine the renewable nature of trees and the reusable nature of paper, and you have a powerful combination that ensures there will be plenty of paper – and plenty of nature – for future generations.

Why is tree farming important for America and America's Forests?

Why tree farming is a win-win solution.

By providing a market for wood, the forest products industry gives forest owners
an incentive to keep land as forest as opposed to converting it to other uses that provide few or no watershed or carbon benefits.

Tree farms don’t just affect trees, they affect people.

More than half of the wood fiber International Paper purchases comes from family forest owners. These landowners use their forestland to support their families, provide for the community, and promote biodiversity. Visit www.ipsustainability.com to meet some of the tree farmers that work with us to keep our forests healthy and growing.

Where is all the E-Waste going?

The real energy impact of all those emails.

Did you realize that every email you send results in energy use and greenhouse gases? With an estimated 62 trillion spam emails a year, that's equivalent to
the electricity used in 2.4 million homes, with the same GHG emissions as
3.1 million passenger cars.

When in doubt, print it out.

If you think you will spend more than 40 minutes reading something online, you actually would create a smaller carbon footprint if you printed the material out. Remember, both your computer and the server providing the information are using energy.