Paper, Tree Free Fibre and Bleaching Definitions

Ancient Forest Friendly Paper | Carbon Neutral Paper | Low Carbon & Low Biodiversity Papers | Recycled Products | Tree Free Products | Agricultural Fibres | Chlorine Free Products

Ancient Forest Friendly Paper
The Ancient Forest Friendly logo represents the highest ecological qualities in the paper industry. In order to be Ancient Forest Friendly, a paper must be manufactured with a high percentage of recycled fibre or agricultural residue. Any virgin fibre used in the paper must be both Forest Stewardship Council certified and assessed not to originate from endangered forests. Bleaching must be chlorine free. Ancient Forest Friendly papers conserve intact forest ecosystems and their functions, such as climate stabilization, water regulation and species habitat.

Carbon-neutral paper   'Carbon neutral' is term that refers to attempts to balance the amount of carbon released with the amount sequestered or offset. Currently there is no overarching standard body governing carbon neutral claims, which makes credible accounting difficult. It is an especially problematic term when applied to paper composed of virgin tree fibre as it has often been applied to energy reduction measures at the mill and offsets purchased for the energy used to produce the paper, while ignoring the heavy role that virgin paper plays in 'deforestation' and 'fragmentation' - both major contributors to global carbon emissions. Conversely, there are also mills in North America promoting carbon neutral paper that is 100% recycled and offset with wind projects - papers we have identified as low carbon options.

Low-carbon and low-biodiversity footprint papers are papers that contain high-recycled content, agricultural residue fibre and Forest Stewardship Council certified pure fibre where virgin fibre is necessary. These papers can also be made at mills utilizing renewable energy like wind, solar and biogas, certified by a credible green energy certifier.

Recycled Products are products that have been reconstituted to new fibre. Post consumer recycled paper differs from paper that is labeled as recycled or pre-consumer recycled paper (described below). Often paper labeled as recycled is often a mix of pre-consumer, post-consumer and virgin fibres.

• Post-Consumer Recycled Content - a finished material made from paper that has, been used by end consumers, been diverted from landfill and reconstituted into post-consumer recycled fibre in a recycling mill. Aim for as high post-consumer recycled content as possible.

• Pre-consumer/Post-industrial Recycled Content - means material or by-products generated after a paper product is manufactured but before it reaches the end-consumer (e.g. mill ends, or magazines that aren't sold at the store).

Tree Free Products are products that are made from agricultural residue or agricultural fibres.

• Agricultural waste/residue refers to usable materials recovered primarily from annual crops as byproducts of food and fibre production (e.g. flax/wheat/rice straw).

• Agricultural fibres refer to non-wood plants that are grown intentionally for paper and other products (e.g., kenaf, arundo donax).

Agricultural Fibres
Agricultural fibres such as wheat and flax straw are used in paper in most parts of the world as a virgin fibre. North America has primarily specialty production of non-wood pulp and paper, while China produces over half of its paper with straw pulp from rice, hemp, bamboo and wheat crops.

Like the different tree species, each crop fibre has different fibre lengths and produces different paper qualities.

• Agricultural residues are the by-product of growing crops for the grain or the seed, such as wheat, flax, oats, and triticale.

• Dedicated crops  from crops such as arundo donax and kenaf, which are grown specifically to produce paper fibre.

We advocate for utilization of agricultural residues, within the limits of sustainable removal from soil as outlined by the Soil Conservation Mapping project of the Prairie Farm Rehabilitation arm of Agriculture and Agri-Foods Canada.

We support use of dedicated crops for pulp and paper where an ecological footprint analysis shows that there is an ecological advantage to substituting the dedicated crop as a virgin fibre alternative to wood.

Read more about agricultural residue fibres.

Chlorine Free Products

• Totally Chlorine Free (TCF) is a virgin product, which has been produced without the use of chlorine compounds, including elemental chlorine gas, chlorine compounds and chlorine derivatives.

• Processed Chlorine Free (PCF) products contain post consumer recycled fibre content, which has been re-bleached with a process that does not use chlorine compounds. Any virgin fibre in these papers is TCF. Since it is impossible to tell whether the recycled content has been bleached with chlorine in the past, PCF papers cannot be labeled totally chlorine-free.

• Elemental Chlorine Free (ECF) is a product that has been produced without chlorine gas however the bleaching process does involve the use of other chlorine compounds such as chlorine dioxide.

• Elemental Chlorine (EC) is the traditional method for paper bleaching using chlorine gas (elemental chlorine) to whiten paper. This process produces large amounts of dioxins. EC paper can contain either virgin or recycled fibres.

Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) are toxins that are produced during the bleaching process of pulp and paper with the use of chlorine and/or chlorine compounds. If POPs enter the environment, they remain intact for long periods of time. These toxins enter the food chain and bio-accumulate as they move up the food chain. POPs are thought to pose significant health risks to flora, fauna and humans.