Paper Quiz - Answers!

Pop quiz to see if you read my posts over the past 2 weeks about paper.  I'll post the answers on Monday.  Feel free to respond in the comments, or ask questions!

1) I have a large report that is stapled together.  Do I really have to take the staple out before putting it in the recycling bin?
Nope!  The recycling process can handle miscellaneous staples, paper clips, etc.

2) Did you notice that paper towels and toilet paper come on cardboard rolls?  Can these be recycled?

(some brands are doing away with the cardboard rolls to save resources!)
YES!  They can.  Paper towels can also be composted in our compost bucket at City Hall.  And the cardboard boxes that tissues come in can be recycled, too.  

3) I just printed out 10 pages of labels and stuck them to the envelopes.  What should I do with the backing paper?
They have to be thrown away :(  The plastic coating that allows the labels to come off doesn't allow the paper to be recycled.  Alternatives include printing the addresses directly on the envelopes (and then you save the time of sticking the labels onto the envelopes)

4) All of our mail seems to come in those envelopes with windows.  Do I need to throw these away?
NO!  The recycling process can handle small amounts of plastic contaminants like these.

5) After I microwave my frozen Lean Cuisine lunch, what should I do with the box that it came in?
It has to be thrown away :(  The boxes that frozen food comes in contain "wet strength" - a chemical that keeps it from breaking down in water.  Since the recycling process relies on water to break down the paper, this is a problem.

6) We used paper plates for a sandwich-type lunch.  No food got on the plates.  Can we recycle them?  NO!  The plates often have either a plastic or wax coating, or wet strength added, so they don't break down in the recycling process

7) What about the paper cups that we used that had water in them?
No.  Same reason as above.

8) I shred all my sensitive documents.  Can I recycle them? What should I put them in? (hah - 2 questions here!)
YES!  Shredded paper can be recycled.  Most waste management companies ask that you put it in paper bags, but we can also work with Hoodview Disposal to have a special pick-up of large amounts of shredded paper in plastic bags.

9) Name 1 benefit of recycling paper and/or using recycled paper with high post-consumer waste content.

saved 3.6 million trees

- reduce air emissions

- save water

- prevented the release of waste into the wastewater system

- requires 40% less energy than making paper from virgin wood products

- releases 38% fewer green-house gases

10) At least on the Planning & Building side of City Hall, we use carbonless paper for hand-written receipts, building inspections, etc.  What should we do with the scraps and other pieces that we don't need?

This was a trick question, since I just updated the answer in the blog about paper recycling.  YES, it is!

Bonus Question:  What is the one exception to question 5 above?
Amy's Organics.  These have been confirmed to NOT use wet strength chemicals.

Paper Quiz

Pop quiz to see if you read my posts over the past 2 weeks about paper.  I'll post the answers on Monday.  Feel free to respond in the comments, or ask questions!

1) I have a large report that is stapled together.  Do I really have to take the staple out before putting it in the recycling bin?

2) Did you notice that paper towels and toilet paper come on cardboard rolls?  Can these be recycled?
(some brands are doing away with the cardboard rolls to save resources!)

3) I just printed out 10 pages of labels and stuck them to the envelopes.  What should I do with the backing paper?

4) All of our mail seems to come in those envelopes with windows.  Do I need to throw these away?

5) After I microwave my frozen Lean Cuisine lunch, what should I do with the box that it came in?

6) We used paper plates for a sandwich-type lunch.  No food got on the plates.  Can we recycle them?

7) What about the paper cups that we used that had water in them?

8) I shred all my sensitive documents.  Can I recycle them? What should I put them in? (hah - 2 questions here!)

9) Name 1 benefit of recycling paper and/or using recycled paper with high post-consumer waste content.

10) At least on the Planning & Building side of City Hall, we use carbonless paper for hand-written receipts, building inspections, etc.  What should we do with the scraps and other pieces that we don't need?

Bonus Question:  What is the one exception to question 5 above?

Paper Substitutes

There are numerous substitutes for paper products - many of which we used to use before disposables and their convenience and cleanliness.  For times when we must use disposable items, find ones with the highest percentage possible of post-consumer recycled content. If every household in the United States replaced just one roll of virgin fiber paper towels with paper towels made of 100 percent recycled paper, we could save 544,000 trees, according to the Natural Resources Defense Council.

Office paper: While this cannot truly be replaced, its use can be reduced by the following actions:
- Print double-sided
- Use paper that has already been used on one side for drafts and non-important printing
- Keep documents electronically instead of printing them out

Paper cups and plates:
- Use durable plates, glasses and mugs, and wash them in the dishwasher

Paper Towels
- Use rags or sponges for spills
- Use hand towels and wash weekly/as needed

Napkins
- Use cloth napkins whenever possible. A large collection from scrap material is an easy way to make sure that you always have enough clean ones.

Remember that the 3 R's of the environmental movement start with REDUCE, and then REUSE, with RECYCLE as a last resort.

Benefits of Paper Recycling

There are numerous reasons to recycling paper, and a typical piece of office paper can be recycled five to seven times before the fibers become too short to be used again!

Recycling paper helps preserve natural resources:
In 2007, the Metro regional area recycled 457,000 tons of paper, which:
- saved 3.6 million trees
- reduced air emissions by 566,884 tons (equivalent of 68,000 cars for one year)
- saved 1 billion gallons of water
- prevented the release of 2,100 tons of waste into the wastewater system
- requires 40% less energy than making paper from virgin wood products
- releases 38% fewer green-house gases

Paper recycling saves space in landfills (although that is not currently an issue in the PNW), protects forests, saves energy, and is cost effective.  In addition, reducing paper usage to begin with, and buying paper with high post-consumer recycled content further helps preserve our natural resources.

Tomorrow I'll discuss alternatives to the paper that we use on a daily basis.

Paper Recycling

As an office, the material we seem to use the most is paper.  And beyond just copying & printing, there are also paper towels, paper napkins, those boxes that microwave lunches come in, etc.  Sometimes its hard to know what is and is not recyclable (and why), and what the benefits are.

We'll start with what IS recyclable here in Sandy, follow-up tomorrow with the benefits of paper recycling, and finally discuss on Thursday options to replace the non-recyclable paper materials we use:

Please put the following IN the recycling bins!
Copy paper (ideally used on both sides; staples, spiral bindings & paper clips are OK)
Glossy magazines
Newspaper
Envelopes with windows
Junk Mail
Catalogs & Phone books
Paper Bags
Cardboard Boxes
Egg cartons
Paper back books
Tetra packs, aseptic milk cartons, & juice boxes (rise out, do not flatten, remove all plastic lids, etc)
Sticky-notes (the adhesive is water-based & dissolves in the recycling process)
Amy's frozen food boxes (these are the only known frozen food box that do not contain the wet-strength chemical)
Beer & soda cartons
Shredded paper - in paper bags

The following items are NOT recyclable. (I've indicated the reasoning in parentheses)

- Paper towels, toilet paper, tissues
(These often contain wet-strength chemical additives, as well as usually being made with a fairly high percentage of recycled paper, so the fibers in paper towels are too short to be woven into new paper products.  BUT they CAN be composted!  For my sake, please don't put toilet paper or tissues in the office compost, though - paper towels are OK!)

- Label backing sheets (i.e. the non-stick "paper" that sheets of labels are stuck to)
(The plastic coating on these does not break down in the recycling process)

- Anything with food on it
(Grease from the pizza, food, etc. seeps into the paper or cardboard which makes it unrecyclable, stained fibers, gross-factor, etc)

- Cardboard-type food containers that are stored in the fridge or freezer EXCEPT Amy's organics boxes.
(These contain a chemical called wet-strength which prevents them from falling apart in cold, moist environments.  This also keeps them from being recyclable.  Check out the following link for more information!
http://www.enviromom.com/2009/02/portland-more-on-those-freezer-boxes.html).

- Plastic coated envelopes
(Plastic)

- Paper cups & plates
(Often these have a wax or plastic coating, are made with short fibers that can't be reused, or are contaminated with food - see the note above on food-contaminated paper)

I am going to follow-up to find out if carbonless paper (i.e. the paper we use for receipts, building inspections, etc) is recyclable.  I'll update this when I know more!  [EDIT:  The answer is YES, this is recyclable!]

Styrofoam cups

I decided to do a post about styrofoam cups.  I assumed that I would be able to find tons of data on how bad for the environment styrofoam cups are, their toxicity, etc. Instead, I found that, as compared to paper cups, styrofoam cups have less impact on the environment. I also found very little recent data - the arguments pro and con are generally both from the 1990s.  But, just to prove that I am not a dogmatic, hardheaded individual (well, I am, but at least I can admit when I learn something new or am wrong), I will go ahead with my post. 


To begin with, most of us call everything that is made from a white, insulating foam "styrofoam".  In fact, the proper terminology is expanded polystyrene foam.  Styrofoam is a trademarked named for expanded polystyrene foam manufactured by the Dow Chemical Company. I'm just going to use the term styrofoam for the rest of this article, however.


Let's start with the process of making styrofoam cups versus paper cups.  One important thing to consider is that most paper cups made for hot liquids are created from virgin material (i.e. fresh trees), bleached, given a plastic or waxy liner, and then given a cardboard sleeve.  In general the cardboard sleeve is recyclable, but the cups are not because of the liner.  Therefore, everything that I have found so far says that styrofoam cups have a lower environmental impact for creation - both resource extraction and greenhouse gas emissions - even though styrofoam is made by expanding hydrocarbon beads.  


Proper disposal is a non-issue, because, although styrofoam cups will never biodegrade, in a modern landfill, neither will anything else, including paper cups.  Styrofoam, such as the blocks used when shipping electronics, can be recycled, but very few places take it, and in general cups and other styrofoam with food residue on it cannot be recycled.  Since the paper cups have a plastic or waxy lining, they cannot be recycled either.  Therefore, these two items are a draw in this area.


If we think about the transport of these items from their place of creation to their place of end use, styrofoam wins out again - it is so lightweight (up to 98% air) that less fuel is required to transport it. 


Additionally, styrofoam cups are in general much cheaper than paper cups.  


NOW, before you go running off to buy boatloads of styrofoam cups, there is one part of this analysis that is missing.  That is the comparison of disposable cups of any type to ceramic mugs.  One study found that while an individual styrofoam cup has a lower environmental impact than an individual ceramic mug, the ceramic mug can be re-used hundreds of times while the styrofoam cup is thrown away.  This study came to the conclusion that if you use more than 46 styrofoam cups (i.e. less than 1 per week), a ceramic mug would have a lower environmental impact.  Paper cups, with their even higher environmental impact, only require 3 to have a higher impact than a ceramic mug.  (http://www.triplepundit.com/2007/12/askpablo-disposable-cups-vs-reusable-mugs/).

This, of course, does not include the cost of washing the ceramic mugs, and I have not been able to find a new study that addresses this issue.  An old (1994) study by University of Victoria chemistry professor Martin Hocking found that you could use over 1,000 styrofoam cups before they had a greater environmental impact than a ceramic mug.  However, with the more efficient dishwashers we now have, plus the fact that many of us don't wash our mug after just 1 use, the number is probably much lower.

A few other things to consider:
1) Improperly disposed styrofoam can be a hazard to wildlife as well as a nuisance.  Because it is so light-weight, it flies very easily and travels great distances.  When ingested by wildlife, it can cause blockages in their digestive tract.
2) Styrofoam is manufactured from a potentially toxic molecule called styrene.  Styrene is classified by the EPA as a potentially cancerous chemical.  I have found reference to some research claiming that "Styrofoam cups lose weight when in use, meaning that styrene is oozing into the foods and drinks we consume. It then ends up stored in our fatty tissue, where it can build up to levels that can cause fatigue, nervousness, difficulty sleeping, blood abnormalities—and even carcinogenic effects." (http://www.newfrontier.com/asheville/earth-talk4.htm)
3) Polystyrene is a petroleum-based product.  This means that we have to extract more oil out of the ground in order to manufacture more styrofoam - recycling of styrofoam results in the downcycling of the material - so you can't make more cups from old cups.

Other options include the newer compostable cups and dishware.  There has not been a study yet that looks at the impact of these versus the other options.  Compostable dishware can be challenging, though, as not everyone has access to a compost program, and many of these items - especially silverware - can only be composted in a commercial system (trust me, I tried valiantly to get my worm compost system to destroy those forks from New Seasons).

For me, I'm going to avoid styrofoam - I feel that I'm exposed to enough chemicals in normal daily life, that if there is one that I can avoid, I'll do it.  I usually have a ceramic mug or a travel mug with me. But I won't be quite as hard on the styrofoam cup users - at least until there is something better available.  

Disposable Dishware - EcoTips

Center for Earth Leadership

ecotips

Disposable Cups Plates and Utensils

Why we care  
Americans throw away 113 billion disposable cups, 39 billion disposable eating utensils, and 29 billion disposable plates each year.  The strain on landfills is obvious, but these products also consume more energy and materials than durable ones even when washing is considered.  Most paper disposables have plastic liners that prevent them from being recycled.  Plastic disposables do not biodegrade and may end up as part of the floating flotsam in the ocean that kills wildlife. Even bioplastic causes problems:  It's a contaminant in plastic recycling streams, does not break down in home composting systems, and may be unsuitable for commercial composting facilities.

Simple, positive change  
• Make a commitment to carry a reusable mug.  If 50 customers a day in every U.S. Starbucks did this, the equivalent of almost 300,000 trees a year would be saved.
• If you forget your mug, ask for a ceramic mug for in-store orders and forgo the plastic lid for to-go use.
• Carry your own containers and utensils for take-out meals. Check www.ReusableBags.com.    
• If you are serving a large crowd:
   o Ask guests to bring their own tableware.
   o Borrow extra from a neighbor or guest.
   o Rent supplies from a rental shop.
• Have lightweight, washable tableware set aside for picnics and potlucks.
• Be proactive in your work place, school, church, or other organization. Work places can buy washable tableware for lunches. A number of schools in Portland have held silverware drives to replace disposables.

Questions or feedback?  Contact Jeanne Roy at jeanne@earthleaders.org.

Copy Paper Eco-Tips

Center for Earth Leadership

ecotips

COPY PAPER

Why we care
Papermaking is one of the largest and most resource intensive industries in the world. Logging can destroy ecosystems, cause erosion, and release carbon into the atmosphere. According to US government figures, pulp and paper manufacturers are the fourth largest industrial emitters of greenhouse gases and in the top five in emissions of toxic chemicals into water and air. Paper is also the largest component of our land filled waste. The good news is that recycling greatly reduces these impacts, and paper fibers can be recycled about eight times before becoming too short for papermaking.

Simple, positive change
• Purchase 100% post-consumer recycled paper. Post-consumer means the fiber was returned to a manufacturer through a recycling program. Paper labeled only recycled can refer to factory scrap that never left the mill.
• Today's recycled paper is perfected for use in copiers. Choose from these brands available locally:
   o Harbor 100 from Arvey’s, Paper Plus, or Paper Zone
   o Boise Aspen 100 from Blue Ribbon Business Products
   o Office Max 100 from Office Max
   o Staples 100 from Staples
   o Envirocopy from Office Depot
• Non-chlorine-based bleaches are best for the environment. Look for recycled paper that is PCF (processed chlorine free) or virgin paper that is TCF (totally chlorine free).
• The Forest Stewardship Council certifies forest products that use fibers harvested in a responsible manner. Look for FSC when purchasing paper with virgin content.
• 100% tree-free papers, such as kenaff or bagasse are also a good choice.

Questions or feedback? Contact Jeanne Roy at jeanne@earthleaders.org.