The Publisher - Dec 2011/Jan 2012, By John Devine
Forest conservation group strives to create business case

It may or may not break a camel’s back, but it does make fine bedding for farm animals, and it’s what is left over after the edible bits are removed. There’s also a lot of it left strewn about following harvest. Straw, the stalk that remains after the grain has been claimed, has a multitude of uses, from the aforementioned bedding to the weaving of baskets. Now, environmentalists have found a new use for it, one they hope will alleviate the need to log carbon and species-rich forests.

Canopy, the Vancouver-based forest advocacy group, is in the midst of a campaign to promote an innovative straw-based product it is calling Second Harvest Paper, made from straw and recycled paper.

 “If we’re going to really be successful in achieving conservation of forest ecosystems, we’re going to have to find other ways to meet business needs … for paper,” Nicole Rycroft, executive director of Canopy, told The Publisher. “Kick-starting commercial-scale production of straw-based pulp and paper is part of that long-term systemic solution for forests.”

A practical application of the product can be found between the covers of a limited special edition of Margaret Atwood’s new book, In Other Worlds: SF and the Human Imagination.

The author has said she was drawn to the trial by a desire to demonstrate that demand for paper can be met using the straw-based product rather than the traditional source, trees.

“Second Harvest Paper is the kind of practical innovation that could make paper from endangered forests ancient history,” Canopy quotes her as saying.

It is also the first book in North America printed on the innovative paper. “This special edition run of the Atwood title is a high-profile way of demonstrating that commercial-scale production of straw-based paper is really just around the corner … it underlines the fact that in 2011 we don’t need to continue to cut down 800-year-old trees.”

The Atwood book is not the first usage of the paper in a print product. In 2008, the summer edition of Canadian Geographic was printed using straw-based paper, also a Canopy initiative.

Straw is a plentiful resource that is now being left to rot on fields, says Rycroft, who adds that there is enough leftover straw in North America to save up to 800 million trees every year, and that encouraging the production and use of straw-based paper would also yield economic benefits for communities across the country.

So, the obvious question for the newspaper industry: is it a viable alternative to newsprint?

“Absolutely. There is no technical reason, in terms of final product and price models that we have, that this couldn’t be a viable option for newspapers across North America.”

Canopy has yet to do a newspaper trial, says Rycroft, but a number of newspapers in China and India print on straw-based paper.

The paper for the Atwood book was produced at the Cascades Fine Papers Group’s mill in Saint- Jérôme, Quebec. Even though the country is one of the largest grain producers in the world, much of the straw residue is burnt or buried—it’s essentially a waste management issue for farmers, says Rycroft.

Viewing straw as a resource rather than a problem would not only negate the need to dispose of it, but also spin it into a commodity with revenue potential. However, before that happens, some structural changes are needed.

“We currently lack the ability in Canada to turn (wheat and flax) straw into pulp,” says Rycroft, “so that’s what Second Harvest is really focused on—kick-starting commercial-scale production of straw-based pulp and papers.” Canopy has identified strong market support for the product  with demand for straw-based paper at more than 800,000 tons.

“There are five leading paper producers that are looking at this in terms of business feasibility for them moving forward, as a priority business strategy. And as part of their involvement in this paper trial, Cascades has actually moved it from a area of exploration and interest to one of their business priorities moving forward.”

Rycroft describes Canopy’s role in promoting straw-based paper as being the inspiration behind the campaign, viewing the paper as a systemic solution for forest conservation.

“We’ve proven product viability, both with this special edition run of Margaret Atwood’s book, as well as the 2008 run that we did of Canadian Geographic’s summer issue.”

Canopy develop the idea for Second Harvest Paper in 2004, and began talking with Margaret Atwood and her publisher two years ago, so making the product mainstream is an ongoing strategy, which includes marketing the economic benefits along with the environmental ones.

“All the business modeling and price projections we’ve done shows that it should be at least at par, and at commercial scale, it should even be a little more competitive, than conventional papers,” says Rycroft of the cost of producing the paper.

Straw-based paper looks and feels like the traditional product, and it can be recycled, says Tara Sawatsky, Canopy’s corporate campaigner.

“The paper completely hits the specs of what you expect in conventional paper … and it can be fed straight into the municipal recycling stream.”

Obstacles remain, however. With the product being relatively new, paper producers need convincing of its commercial viability and quality, says Rycroft, who adds that there are not insignificant start-up costs in a required retrofitting of mills. But a changing market and the ongoing greening of the economy presents opportunities and expectations for paper producers, she says.

“We’ve seen initiatives like the Canadian Boreal Forest Agreement come forward because there is a greening of the marketplace, that major customers are expecting more of their suppliers than just product that will run without problem at an affordable price … that doesn’t come with a heavy ecological footprint.

“Second Harvest is going to become, I think, an important business strategy for players who want to stay relevant, and at the lead of the pack.”

Read the article in The Publisher.