Hello everyone,
First of all: Merry Christmas or Hannukah! I hope you are all enjoying your
holidays and this special time of year. Today we'll be looking into the paper
industry because lots of people are arguing about whether paper bags are
better than plastic ones. We looked into it for you, enjoy!
Acid rain
In the production of pulp and paper, nitrogen oxides (NOX) and sulfur dioxide (SO2) are produced. Both of these are contributors to acid rain, which is not
quite as terrible as it sounds but still quite bad. Acid rain is rain, fog,
snow or hail that is acidic.
It's formed by NOX & SO2
reacting with water and oxygen which will turn them into nitrous acid
(HNO2), nitric acid (HNO3) & sulfuric acid (H2SO4), meaning that instead of rain being formed from just water, it is instead
also mixed with acid. While acid rain won't harm you, it can harm aquatic
ecosystems and forests. When the rain falls on water, it will mix with the
water and over time acidify it. This will make it uninhabitable for animals
and plants. When the rain falls on trees and plants, it will kill the trees by
pulling life-depending nutrients from the soil and weakens the plants' natural
defence systems.
Greenhouse gases
Pulp and paper don't only produce nitrogen oxides and sulfur dioxide, it also
produces CO2, in fact of the 69% of global greenhouse gas emissions that transport and
energy industries are responsible for, it produces 1% of those emissions. When
paper is left to decompose it releases methane into the atmosphere, and
methane is 25 times worse for the climate than CO2
due to its chemical build! The paper industry also uses fossil fuels for
production and transportation and it's responsible for a lot of deforestation,
which in turn, is responsible for a quarter of all human-made global
greenhouse gas emissions. This means that the paper industry is responsible
for 9% of CO2
from all manufacturing industries. Which puts in in 3rd or 4th place for
industrial greenhouse gas emissions!
Water
This industry uses a lot more water than others. A lot more means: 1 ton of
paper requires 300-400 tons of water, which equates to about 20 litres of
water for one sheet of A4. This water can't be used for anything afterwards,
meaning that some countries will use 10% of their clean water for paper
production. Often, dangerous chemicals are released into nearby rivers and
lakes, which poison marine life and can contaminate drinking water.
Waste
Up to 26% of waste in landfill and dump sites is paper or cardboard and half
of recyclables by weight in the US is paper. 44 million tons of paper and
cardboard were recovered in 2012 alone and as already mentioned, paper waste
produces methane. Out of all of methane emissions in the US, landfills are the
largest contributor and equate to 34%.
Deforestation
93% of raw material in paper comes from trees. Half of that fibre comes from
purposely harvested wood and the other half comes from sawmills, recycled
paper and other similar sources. An average tree will give you 8 000 pages,
which may seem like a lot, but if you consider that over 90% of office work is
still done on paper that's not going to last long. In fact, 4 billion trees
are cut down for paper every single year. That's one tree for two people! It's
also 35% of global deforestation, which in a lot of cases is illegal. 42% of
the global wood harvest is for paper. And we can't just grow another 4 billion
trees a year because trees take a very long time to grow back, looking at it
from this angle, the paper industry is not so very sustainable.
Energy
The energy needed for one paper bag is enough for two plastic bags. The paper
industry is the 5th largest energy consumer worldwide - 4% of the world's
total energy output!
Chemicals
In paper production the following dangerous chemicals are produced/released:
- Chlorine & chlorine compounds
- Mercury
- dyes, ink, bleach
These gases cause dangerous air and water pollution.
In conclusion, paper isn't actually so great for the environment. However,
with few good alternatives on the market, we're probably going to be stuck
with it for a while. To help, you can do a lot to reduce your paper
consumption. A few ideas could be
- Not using toilet paper but water, this may sound gross now, but is normal in
other countries and definitely saves a whole lot of paper!
-Don't print everything! For school as well as work, not everything needs
printing, that's what you have a laptop for.
-You can read newspapers and magazines online too
-Don't use paper towels to dry your hands in public bathrooms
Hopefully, you learned a lot, let us know what you think!
Until the next post!
Your Green World Teamš
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