Post by Metella on Apr 22, 2005 8:56:46 GMT -5
BUY RECYCLED ..... here is an article that mentions the latest poison Goren has run afoul of ......
from a most delightful website: frugalfun.com
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DIOXINS . . . YEECH!
What about bleaching and de-inking?
Papermaking is a dirty business. Paper mills are among the most polluting of industries. The paper industry is the greatest energy consumer in our country. The U.S. paper industry's reliance on chlorine-intensive bleaching places this industry as the worst water polluter in the world.
Paper is not all paper. It can be 20 to 40% fillers, coatings, and chemicals. Making paper requires a great deal of water, energy, and chemistry. Many chemicals associated with the manufacture of paper are toxic or result in toxic waste. Although the recycling of waste paper requires less of all these, the chemicals used and subsequent waste produced varies greatly.
The biggest culprit is the bleaching process. There are 3 basic types of bleaching: chlorine gas, hypochlorites (a chlorine derivative), and hydrogen peroxide or oxygen. Bleaching paper with chlorine is harmful to our environment. Period.
The toxic byproducts we hear about the most are dioxins. Dioxins are one type of organochloride, which result from the combination of chlorine and other substances. Pulp and paper mills using chlorine for bleaching produce up to 1,000 of these chlorinated organic compounds. So far, only about 300 of these have been identified, including dioxins, furans, and PCBs.
Dioxin is considered to be the most potent chemical toxin known, and studies have shown it to be highly carcinogenic. (Keep in mind that DDT is an organochloride!) Toxic emissions from paper mills are concentrated in fish, then are further concentrated when those fish are eaten, whether by a bird or a person. New studies indicate potential impacts to the reproductive and immune systems.
To give a perspective, the pesticide Endrin, a recognized carcinogen, created quite a stir in Montana when found in waterfowl and upland game birds. It is no longer registered for use due to its persistence. Dioxins can be 10,000 times more toxic than Endrin. Pulp mills discharge around 35 tons of toxic organochlorides each day. Many of these cause cancer or genetic damage, lead to reduced reproductivity in fish, and are persistent and accumulate in the environment.
Due to the nature of the pulp source for virgin paper in this country containing large quantities of lignins, powerful bleaching is thought necessary to make the paper white. However, in countries like Sweden and Germany, chlorine-free papers are being made today. In fact, Sweden has a law requiring the elimination of organochloride emissions from paper mills by the year 2000, and the Canadian province of British Columbia by the year 2002.
Recycled paper is made from paper which probably was bleached the first time around, as well as being as much as half virgin fiber anyway, so it is tough to truly say a paper is unbleached. The better term is unREbleached for making recycled paper that is not bleached. It is possible, and better, to do no bleaching.
RECYCLED PAPER
One advantage of recycled paper is that it CAN be made easily with less toxic processes, and thus result in less environmentally unsound wastes from manufacturing processes. Not all recycled paper products are made using more benign processes. But some are.
If a recycled paper is made from 100% recycled fibers, it does not require much bleaching, let alone as strong of bleach. This could be easily done with an oxygen-based bleaching process. A few paper mills in this country are beginning to use this process, mostly for recycled tissue products, but a few fine papers are produced using this more environmentally sound process.
Several of the recycled paper mills in this country are using a chlorine derivative, sodium hypochlorite, which does not promote the development of organochlorides as readily as elemental chlorine (gas). While it is still a major problem, a hypochlorite bleached product is a better choice than one bleached with chlorine gas.
With the recycling of waste paper comes the necessity to de-ink the fiber. Depending on the type of process, de-inking can range from a simple detergent process to a much more caustic process which may again involve chlorine or other more harmful chemicals and result in dangerous wastes.
Keep in mind that what we think of as ink from copy machine and laser printers is actually a plastic polymer burned onto the page. This requires much more caustic chemicals to "de-ink" than paper printed with ink at a print shop or with a typewriter, inkjet or impact printer. Using ink rather than lasers and copiers whenever possible can help to reduce toxic wastes in the long run.
Printing inks may contain a variety of heavy metals and volatile organic compounds which require strong solvents (also containing VOC's) for cleaning. Vegetable-based inks are an alternative and make the deinking process easier. The technology is advancing, but demand for these alternative products must be there.
"Recycled-ness" and "bleached-ness" are at present two distinct issues and ideals. The goal, of course, would be to meld these two into readily available unrebleached, recycled paper products. At present, very few paper products meet both. It is through informed consumers that we will see the changes to have both. And hopefully we can also see chlorine-free virgin papers on the market without having to bring them half way around the globe.
There are a few very environmentally benign papers available. Usually they come from smaller mills and often cost a little more. Treecycle stocks a couple 100% post-consumer papers which have not been de-inked. One of them has not been bleached or dyed. There is also a 100% de-inked, 50% pcw paper available that has been bleached with hydrogen peroxide.
Ask your paper supplier or printer to find you papers that meet all your goals. If they can't answer your questions, then maybe they simply want to sell you something; not necessarily meet your goals
from a most delightful website: frugalfun.com
======================================
DIOXINS . . . YEECH!
What about bleaching and de-inking?
Papermaking is a dirty business. Paper mills are among the most polluting of industries. The paper industry is the greatest energy consumer in our country. The U.S. paper industry's reliance on chlorine-intensive bleaching places this industry as the worst water polluter in the world.
Paper is not all paper. It can be 20 to 40% fillers, coatings, and chemicals. Making paper requires a great deal of water, energy, and chemistry. Many chemicals associated with the manufacture of paper are toxic or result in toxic waste. Although the recycling of waste paper requires less of all these, the chemicals used and subsequent waste produced varies greatly.
The biggest culprit is the bleaching process. There are 3 basic types of bleaching: chlorine gas, hypochlorites (a chlorine derivative), and hydrogen peroxide or oxygen. Bleaching paper with chlorine is harmful to our environment. Period.
The toxic byproducts we hear about the most are dioxins. Dioxins are one type of organochloride, which result from the combination of chlorine and other substances. Pulp and paper mills using chlorine for bleaching produce up to 1,000 of these chlorinated organic compounds. So far, only about 300 of these have been identified, including dioxins, furans, and PCBs.
Dioxin is considered to be the most potent chemical toxin known, and studies have shown it to be highly carcinogenic. (Keep in mind that DDT is an organochloride!) Toxic emissions from paper mills are concentrated in fish, then are further concentrated when those fish are eaten, whether by a bird or a person. New studies indicate potential impacts to the reproductive and immune systems.
To give a perspective, the pesticide Endrin, a recognized carcinogen, created quite a stir in Montana when found in waterfowl and upland game birds. It is no longer registered for use due to its persistence. Dioxins can be 10,000 times more toxic than Endrin. Pulp mills discharge around 35 tons of toxic organochlorides each day. Many of these cause cancer or genetic damage, lead to reduced reproductivity in fish, and are persistent and accumulate in the environment.
Due to the nature of the pulp source for virgin paper in this country containing large quantities of lignins, powerful bleaching is thought necessary to make the paper white. However, in countries like Sweden and Germany, chlorine-free papers are being made today. In fact, Sweden has a law requiring the elimination of organochloride emissions from paper mills by the year 2000, and the Canadian province of British Columbia by the year 2002.
Recycled paper is made from paper which probably was bleached the first time around, as well as being as much as half virgin fiber anyway, so it is tough to truly say a paper is unbleached. The better term is unREbleached for making recycled paper that is not bleached. It is possible, and better, to do no bleaching.
RECYCLED PAPER
One advantage of recycled paper is that it CAN be made easily with less toxic processes, and thus result in less environmentally unsound wastes from manufacturing processes. Not all recycled paper products are made using more benign processes. But some are.
If a recycled paper is made from 100% recycled fibers, it does not require much bleaching, let alone as strong of bleach. This could be easily done with an oxygen-based bleaching process. A few paper mills in this country are beginning to use this process, mostly for recycled tissue products, but a few fine papers are produced using this more environmentally sound process.
Several of the recycled paper mills in this country are using a chlorine derivative, sodium hypochlorite, which does not promote the development of organochlorides as readily as elemental chlorine (gas). While it is still a major problem, a hypochlorite bleached product is a better choice than one bleached with chlorine gas.
With the recycling of waste paper comes the necessity to de-ink the fiber. Depending on the type of process, de-inking can range from a simple detergent process to a much more caustic process which may again involve chlorine or other more harmful chemicals and result in dangerous wastes.
Keep in mind that what we think of as ink from copy machine and laser printers is actually a plastic polymer burned onto the page. This requires much more caustic chemicals to "de-ink" than paper printed with ink at a print shop or with a typewriter, inkjet or impact printer. Using ink rather than lasers and copiers whenever possible can help to reduce toxic wastes in the long run.
Printing inks may contain a variety of heavy metals and volatile organic compounds which require strong solvents (also containing VOC's) for cleaning. Vegetable-based inks are an alternative and make the deinking process easier. The technology is advancing, but demand for these alternative products must be there.
"Recycled-ness" and "bleached-ness" are at present two distinct issues and ideals. The goal, of course, would be to meld these two into readily available unrebleached, recycled paper products. At present, very few paper products meet both. It is through informed consumers that we will see the changes to have both. And hopefully we can also see chlorine-free virgin papers on the market without having to bring them half way around the globe.
There are a few very environmentally benign papers available. Usually they come from smaller mills and often cost a little more. Treecycle stocks a couple 100% post-consumer papers which have not been de-inked. One of them has not been bleached or dyed. There is also a 100% de-inked, 50% pcw paper available that has been bleached with hydrogen peroxide.
Ask your paper supplier or printer to find you papers that meet all your goals. If they can't answer your questions, then maybe they simply want to sell you something; not necessarily meet your goals