As designers who want to make a positive impact on the world, we try to do what we can to make our print projects as “green” as possible. But what is the “greenest” way to print?  With all of the acronyms like PCS, FSC, and CFP, along with some paper company green washing, it’s not always clear. To help clarify, I’ve done some research into the matter, and here is what I discovered.

In order of environmental friendliness, best to least, the following is a list of paper options:

1. PCW [Post Consumer Waste] recycled paper  – 100% is best, but anything is still better than nothing.

Although manufacturing recycled paper produces it’s own waste and by-products, because it needs much less bleaching than virgin papers, it reduces the use of toxic chemicals and other potential hazards and doesn’t release them as landfilling and incineration do. Using recycled paper also incorporates full-cycle production costs, unlike virgin paper which includes no responsibility for its eventual disposal costs.

Following are some interesting stats that I came across that explain why recycled paper is at the top of the list.
Creating one ton of recycled paper uses 64% less energy, 50% less water, creates 74% lepss air pollution, saves 17 trees and creates 5 times more jobs than creating one ton of virgin paper products; 42% of the industrial wood harvested globally is devoted to paper production; and, one third of our landfills is taken up by paper, which in turn produces large amounts of methane, a greenhouse gas.

2. PCF – chlorine and or bleach-free paper
I was surprised to see bleach/chlorine free (PCF) paper second on the list, but taking these toxic chemicals out of the virgin paper process prevents a lot of environmental degradation, and in the overall picture the damage not done outweighs the benefits of alternative/tree-free and tree-farmed sources.

3. Paper made from alternative sources such as fiber or tree-free
Obviously, alternative sources/tree-free papers are good because they save trees, but the way they are produced is not as green as the process used to created recycled paper.

4. FSC [Forest Stewardship Council] certified paper with some recycled content.
Interestingly enough, even though FSC certified paper is being pushed as the latest and greatest “green” solution by the paper companies, it is not very high on the list. The reason? While it is better than virgin paper because it uses tree-farmed trees, it still has to go through the same processes as virgin paper, using valuable resources and creating more paper for the landfills. The FSC papers that use some recycled content are better but, as you can see, they are still not as good as other options.

5. FSC certified paper

6. Virgin paper

To sum it up, PCW recycled paper is your best bet if you’re trying to green up your print projects.  And while it’s true that when first introduced these papers were expensive and of mediocre quality, prices have come down and quality has gone way up.  Take a look at Classic Crest 100% recycled white and see for yourself — it’s a beautiful sheet and takes color well. If you want to use a colored or textured sheet, try using recycled paper and then creating textures and colors on it with images and ink.

The bottom line is that consumer demand drives pretty much everything in this country, and the more we demand recycled papers (among other products), the better the product selection/price becomes. Right now, only 10% of the paper currently used in the US is made from PCW! If we all start using recyled papers right now, this number will surely go up!