Myth: The Paper Industry is destroying forests


Fact:


The Paper Industry is a relatively small user of wood; only around 11% of the wood extracted from the world’s forests is used in paper and pulp production1


.


With responsible forest management, European forests have grown by over 30% since 19502


and are increasing every


year by an area four times the size of London!3


Myth: We should only produce and use recycled paper


Fact:


Of the fibres used to make paper in the UK, over 70% come from recovered paper recycled by households and businesses. For Newsprint paper – papers mainly used for printing newspapers – the figure is an impressive 100%. Remember though, that paper fibres can only be recycled around 4 to 7 times as they increasingly degrade in the recycling process, and eventually lose their papermaking qualities. Degraded fibres are replaced with new, virgin fibres, often from recovered paper that has not previously been recycled.


Without virgin fibres, from new trees, the paper cycle can neither begin nor continue.


1 www.twosides.info - FAO Statistics 2007


2 www.twosides.info - UNECE, FAO, The Development of Forest Resources 3 www.twosides.info - CEPI


4 www.twosides.info - Paper & The Environment, ATS Consulting August 2007 5 www.twosides.info - CEPI, Forest Fact Sheet, 2008


9


myths or facts?


Myth: The Paper Industry uses too much energy


Fact:


On average, the amount of electricity required to produce 200kg of paper - the average amount of paper that each of us consumes each year - is equivalent to a typical household leaving its electronic equipment on stand-by for a year4


.


Over half the energy used to make paper in Europe comes from renewable, low-carbon energy5


. Between 1990 and 2010, the UK


Papermaking Industry reduced energy use by 42% per tonne of paper, and emissions of fossil carbon dioxide by 1.6m tonnes.


Myth: Paper is bad for the environment Fact:


Paper is natural, biodegradable and recyclable, comes from a renewable resource and is manufactured in a sustainable manner. Trees absorb CO2


from the atmosphere, and paper,


as a wood product, continues to store carbon throughout its lifetime. A well managed forest, used and re-planted, absorbs more carbon dioxide than a mature forest consisting of older trees.


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