Currently reading: Haggith, Mandy. (2008). Paper Trails: Trees to Trash – The True Cost of Paper. Virgin Books, London.
Chapter 1: Addicted to Pulp
Haggith cites quantities of the average British person’s annual paper consumption from the UK Federation of Paper Industries Waste:
20kg (44lb) tissue products
60kg (132lb) paper packaging
10kg (22lb) “other”
80kg (176lb) graphic paper
40kg (88lb) newsprint
200kg (440lb) total
“Used paper is NOT a waste material,” Haggith is quick to assert, “it consists of strong plant fibres that can be used again.” (p.15)
Paper’s re-use value is readily quantifiable: “In New York City fines of $2,000 are imposed for the theft of waste paper from garbage left out on the street for collection indicating that it is valued at least by ‘rustlers’. (p.15)
Chapter 2: From Artisan to Industrialists
Haggith mentions a couple of waste materials paper has been made from: Tasmanian paper artisan Joanna Gair makes Roo Poo Paper from kangaroo dung. In Scandinavia elk droppings are used, buffalo turds are used in Africa and fibre from elephant dung is used for Ellie’s Poo Paper. (p.22)
Tracing China’s 2 million year history of paper production, Haggith finds that rice, straw, sugar cane waste and bamboo are just as good for making paper as tree pulp. (p.22)
“Up until the late nineteenth century almost all paper ij Europe was made from rags, and in fact a Scottish regulation made it illegal to make paper out of anything other than waste materials.” (p.27)
“The British tradition of doot to door collection of old clothes and fabric by the ‘rag and bone man’ stemmed from the demand by the paper industry for rags for fibre and bones for size” (a kind of glue used to strengthen and coat paper for printing). (p.28)
Chapter 3: Checks and Balances
“The most flagrantly wasteful paper we produce is the unsolicited postal itesm known officially as ‘direct mail’ but more widely as junk mail, the vast bulk of which goes straight into the bin without being opened.” The finance sector and mail order catalogue companies are the worst offenders. (p.51)
On the waste of paper making: “Making a single sheet of A4 paper not only causes as much greenhouse gas emissions as burning a light bulb for an hour it also uses a mug full of water. (p.25)
