On the Right Paper Trail

According to Greenpeace Canada, the best environmental purchase is a "recycled tissue product with recyclable packaging." If every household in Canada replaced one roll of virgin-forest toilet paper with one roll of recycled paper, we would save about 48,000 trees, 3, 200 cubic metres of landfill space, and 65.5 million litres of water. If we add in recycled tissues and paper towels, the numbers become even more mind boggling and we would succeed in saving more forests and conserving more water.

One of the best ways to encourage more manufacturers to produce environmentally sustainable products is to use our buying power to support the ones that already do. But, we must be careful to support only those companies that are fully committed to producing truly eco-friendly products. We need to read the fine print on the packaging and become more aware of the different catchphrases that exist in the industry.

Pre-consumer recycled These materials come from manufacturing leftovers, either at the paper mill or the factory. They are, however, still derived directly from trees rather than from reused sources.

Post-consumer recycled These materials have been used by consumers and come from old newspapers and other paper products collected and recycled in blue-box systems. When purchasing household products with post-consumer content, we are supporting local recycling programs.

Biodegradable A product that is biodegradable will break down and return to its natural components. This process could take centuries if the material buried under a landfill and not exposed to sunlight, air, and moisture. And, some substances could break down into harmful environmental toxins.

Recyclable This means the product is recyclable, but not necessarily in our own towns or cities.

Chlorine-free Many manufacturers still bleach paper with chlorine, a potentially harmful chemical that seeps into our water system and is linked to respiratory illnesses. We should buy products with the following labels on the packages: TCF (totally chlorine free) or PCF (processed chlorine free).