The Paper Recycling Association of South Africa (RecyclePaperZA) calls on all South Africans – from schoolchildren to pensioners – to do their bit by recycling paper products at school, home and work for drop-off at local recycling depots or gathering by collectors who earn a living by selling it back to mills.

“Paper and cardboard are items we touch and use every day – in the kitchen and bathroom, in the classroom and at the office – from printed copy paper, magazines, flyers and newspapers to cereal boxes and juice and milk cartons,” says RecyclePaperZA operations director Ursula Henneberry. “Millions of people choose to recycle every day, which helps the local paper industry to make lots of new products and create meaningful employment.”

“Ordinary people don’t have much control over pressing global environmental challenges and their capacity to help solve these issues is limited. However, the one thing that we can all do to make a difference is recycle,” she adds.

The benefits are numerous, and it just takes a little bit of effort to develop “good garbage habits”.

GOLDEN RULES FOR PAPER RECYCLING

As a starting point, it is important to remember paper recycling’s five golden rules:

• Get to know what paper products are recyclable and which are not.
• Separate your recyclables from wet waste. Paper items that are wet (used paper plates) or soiled (tissues and disposable nappies) cannot be recycled.
• Take a second to separate any non-paper packaging from paper or cardboard.
• Always keep paper clean and dry as this ensures a quality fibre for use in making new products.
• Invest in or make a paper-only bin or box for easy sorting.

RECYCLING AT HOME:

• Space permitting, you may want to have a few paper bins around the house.
• Decide what you want to do with your recyclables – have them collected or drop them off?
• Strike up a conversation with a waste collector in your suburb and make an arrangement to have them collect your paper and cardboard on a convenient day.
• Keep a box or crate in your car so that you can do a weekly drop-off on the way to work or run other errands.
• Make family, friends and visitors aware that you recycle.

AT SCHOOL:

• Enrol in a paper recycling programme and raise funds for your school.
• Actively encourage parents to drop off their recycling during their school runs.
• Place clearly marked, brightly coloured recycling receptacles in classrooms and on the school grounds.
• Contact RecyclePaperZA for a presentation to share the value of recycling with teachers and learners.

AT WORK:

• Place paper-only bins for easy separation from other recyclables and wet waste, especially in areas where paper disposal is likely to take place – at desks, photocopiers and printers and in communal kitchens.
• Mark recycling receptacles clearly or perhaps use a colour-coding system.
• Find out what your company wants to do with recyclables – have them collected or dropped off?
• Support a local small business or informal collector by arranging for them to collect the office recyclable paper, boxes and other paper packaging.
• Make staff and visitors aware of the office-recycling programme. It may take regular education and encouragement, and some fun incentives.
•  Once you get the hang of paper recycling, start separating other recyclables, like plastic, cans and glass, aerosols and electronic waste. You could also try composting organic kitchen waste to go even greener.

Lastly, pay it forward and get friends and family to recycle too.

PAPER RECYCLING IN SOUTH AFRICA. THE NUMBERS.

• In 2014, 64% of South Africa’s recoverable paper was collected for recycling. This equated to 1.1 million tonnes, enough to fill 1,276 Olympic-sized swimming pools.
• Only 5% of households conscientiously recycle their paper.
• Recycling just a tonne of paper removes the need for three cubic metres of landfill space.

USEFUL WEBSITES

www.recyclepaper.co.za

www.mywaste.co.za

www.recycling.co.za

The post Paper recycling. Simplified. first appeared on The Paper Story (PAMSA).

Vienna, 06 October 2014 – Mondi’s recycled brands NAUTILUS® SuperWhite and NAUTILUS® ReFresh have been awarded with the Buyer’s Lab (BLI) performance certification based on independent testing across numerous digital imaging devices.  Buyer’s Lab (BLI), the leading global independent office products test lab and business consumer advocate, tested the NAUTILUS® papers on a total of 15 different office document imaging devices (including copiers, printers, fax machines and multifunctional products) representing Canon, Epson, Kyocera, Ricoh and Brother and evaluated the results based on paper dust, runnability (curl, double-sheeting and misfeeds), image performance, packaging and cut defects. According to the certificates awarded, both NAUTILUS® brands have proven to be highly reliable, with excellent performance related to image quality, dusting and curl.

“I can confirm that both Mondi papers – NAUTILUS® ReFresh and NAUTILUS® SuperWhite – have been awarded BLI’s Performance Certification, which means that it has delivered very good results across a wide range of devices and brands in BLI’s testing program,” says David Sweetnam, BLI Head of European Research and Lab Services.

Beyond awarding the performance certification of NAUTILUS®, BLI has also chosen to use the NAUTILUS® brands for its ongoing lab testing. “All of BLI’s Environmental Testing on a wide range of imaging devices is conducted with Mondi NAUTILUS® Refresh Triotec 30% and NAUTILUS® SuperWhite 100% recycled papers, both of which are quality-grade recycled multipurpose papers. A number of other Mondi media types, including NAUTILUS® SuperWhite are also used in BLI’s Public and Custom testing, and they have always delivered outstanding quality and reliability,” confirms Dr. Simon Plumtree, BLI European Managing Editor.

“Having purchased NAUTILUS® recycled paper from Mondi for several years now, I have to say that the consistent quality performance of the brand is excellent. We’re satisfied and more importantly, our customers are satisfied. Can’t ask for more,” says Hanspeter Albrecht, Head of Marketing, Berberich Papier, sharing a customer perspective.

“We were thrilled to receive the external verification of our high quality recycled NAUTILUS® papers. It is one thing if we say we produce excellent recycled papers, but another thing entirely if an independent body and customers confirm it,” says Johannes Klumpp, Marketing & Sales Director, Mondi Uncoated Fine Paper. “The clear benefits for users – less machine wear and reduced maintenance costs – are combined with an excellent eco-profile and externally verified. So there are no compromises between quality and environmental benefits. It doesn’t get any better than that,” concludes Klumpp.

More information about Mondi’s recycled paper portfolio is available at: www.mondigroup.com/nautilus

The post Mondi’s recycled NAUTILUS® Papers Awarded Buyers Lab Performance Certification first appeared on The Paper Story (PAMSA).

Day in, day out, we are faced with messages about the harm that paper does to our environment. More often than not, these messages can be found in two places: at the bottom of emails and from service providers informing you of their move from postal to electronic distribution of documents.

Keeping it on screen is not going green
“While the paper industry cannot swim against the digital tide and the convenience of receiving such documents electronically, the electronic distribution of information should not be touted as being more environmentally friendly than print,” says Jane Molony, PAMSA executive director.

In fact, reading a document on screen produces more carbon dioxide (CO2) than printing out the same document.  A printed document can be read over again without further emissions and can also be recycled, according to a 2006 study by Sir Nicholas Stern, head of the Government Economic Service in the United Kingdom.

The Stern Review on the Economics of Climate Change  tackled the effects of climate change and global warming on the world economy. Stern used his 700-page document to demonstrate how paper and print have a better environmental footprint than electronic communication.

• Printing the Stern Review emits 85g of CO2 (one copy can be read over and over again without further emissions).
• Reading it on a computer for one hour emits 226g of CO2 every time.
• Burning the Stern Review to CD is estimated to emit 300g of CO2 for every copy
• Burning it to DVD is estimated to emit 350g of CO2 for every copy

Further to this, in September last year the New York Times stated, “The [information] industry has long argued that computerising business transactions and everyday tasks like banking and reading library books has the net effect of saving energy and resources.”

Quoting Power, Pollution, and the Internet, the New York Times asserts that the energy consumption of massive data centres is ‘sharply at odds with its image of sleek efficiency and environmental friendliness’.

E-waste is the fastest growing component in the municipal stream
Greenpeace has identified electronic waste as the fastest growing component of the municipal waste steam”[i].

Hans Wegner, chief sustainability officer of the National Geographic Society notes, “We don’t know the environmental impact of saving a document on a server for ten years or more. And we have no idea of the impact of extracting finite resources to make electronic devices that cannot easily be recycled safely and practically.”

But what about all the trees that are killed to make paper?
Few people realise that all paper in South Africa is produced from plantation-grown trees, recycled paper or bagasse (sugar-cane fibre). Some 600 million trees across 762,000 hectares are specifically farmed for use in pulp and paper manufacturing, just as maize was planted for your cereal and wheat for your bread.

“Contrary to popular and often misinformed belief, the fibre used to make paper products is not sourced from the wood of rainforests, indigenous or common garden trees,” notes Molony.

As massive sinks for atmospheric carbon, forests mitigate greenhouse gas emissions by absorbing CO2 and releasing oxygen through the natural process of photosynthesis. South Africa’s timber plantations lock up 900 million tons a year of CO2, which is a massive environmental service and a key means of mitigating climate change[ii].

If it were not for the pulp and paper industry operating world-wide for the last 150 years the CO2 levels in the atmosphere would be 5% higher (about 0.5 degree) than they are at present[iii].

Over 80% of South African plantations are certified by the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC), ranking it as the highest level of international certification in the world.  FSC’s Chain of Custody tracks certified material through the production process – from the forest to the consumer, including all successive stages of processing, transformation, manufacturing and distribution.

Please consider the environment before NOT printing this
“While PAMSA certainly does not advocate wasteful printing, we ask that paper and printing, and the environment, be treated with respect.”

PAMSA’s Green Office Week Tips

• Buy locally manufactured paper that is FSC-certified. This way you can be assured that the paper is produced from sustainably managed plantations.
• Recycle your paper, keeping it dry and away from other waste and have it collected regularly. Visit www.mywaste.co.za
• Be responsible with your electronic waste. Do your research and find reputable e-waste recycling companies that you know will handle your old computers and printers with the environment in mind.

[i] Greenpeace, The E-waste Problem 2009

[ii] Forestry South Africa, 2011

[iii] Special Report No 07-02, February 2007. The greenhouse gas and carbon profile of the global forest products industry. NCASI (National Council for Air and Stream Improvement) 

The post Don’t let corporate ignorance cause a paper jam first appeared on The Paper Story (PAMSA).