Eco-friendly Paper Options
December 2, 2009 – 1:36 pm by MarinaHanes
Paper waste from commercial and residential areas accounts for over 40% of the waste found in landfills, according to Carnegie Mellon Green Practices. In addition, Carnegie Mellon says that for each ton of paper recycled, 17 trees, 60,000 gallons of water, 225 kilowatt hours as well as other resources are saved. Much of the recycled paper on the market is made from post-consumer material, which is definitely a way to reuse material. However, different ways of making eco-friendly paper are now being produced, and exploring these alternative processes can open up the opportunity for consumers to use eco-friendly paper that doesn’t use up a significant amount of limited resources.
Believe it or not, the Pinnawela Elephant Orphanage in Sri Lanka has been using elephant dung to create eco-friendly paper, which by the way doesn’t smell and is bacteria-free. Their adult pachyderms produce approximately 180 kg of waste per day, so waste management has become an issue for the orphanage, that is until they began producing paper. The dung from each elephant can help product 115 sheets of paper, and the paper has a similar texture and look to the paper made from tree fiber. The process involves boiling, bleaching, coloring, drying and flattening the dung, and they can produce a lot of paper since they house 60 elephants. This alternative source is beneficial to the environment, because there is less elephant dung sitting on the ground and contaminating the soil and groundwater.
A company named Print Art, Inc. in New Jersey has created Ultra Green™ Eco-Friendly paper, which is made from limestone. Because the paper is made from limestone, it’s more durable, easier to process and inexpensive. In addition, the manufacturing of the paper does not require the use of trees, water or bleaching chemicals. One ton of this paper saves 20 trees, 7,480 gallons of water and 25 million BTUs of energy.
Eco-friendly paper is a perfect gift for anyone, especially students, writers and professionals. Plus, paper made from elephant dung or limestone is an unusual and interesting gift in and of itself. Who knows what other ways paper will be made from in the near future?
