Making Paper Without the Trees
The “Company Profile” is an Earth911.com series highlighting consumer goods and services making a difference through product stewardship and recycling. Products and services featured do not pay for placement and are not endorsed by Earth911.com.
From an early age, we all learn that paper comes from trees. But we aren’t taught about other factors in the paper-making process, such as water, energy and bleach.
Green consultant Natural Source Printing is marketing a form of paper called FiberStone™ that doesn’t require water or bleach to manufacturer. In fact, it doesn’t even involve trees, because FiberStone™ is made of limestone and high density polyethylene (HDPE), also known as a plastic #2. We talked with Natural Source’s President Mary Loyer to learn more.
Product Overview
FiberStone™ is made from waste limestone collected in the building and construction industry. It is ground into powder and bonded into paper using HDPE, the same plastic resin used to make detergent bottles and plastic bags.
Loyer says the technology of making paper from stone has been around for 10 years, but Natural Source developed the FiberStone™ brand last year. She began investigating the process for recycling paper to provide this information to Natural Source’s clients, and noticed that even recycled paper uses lots of energy and water in production.
“Consumers are no longer responding as much to the recycling logo on paper, because it could mean so many things,” says Loyer. “It might mean that the paper is recycled content or that the company encourages people to recycle it. With FiberStone™, our clients can take ownership of how the product was created and the effect it has on the environment from the beginning of its life.”
Where It’s Found
FiberStone™ is currently only for sale directly from Natural Source Printing, but Loyer says she has received inquiries from many printers. It comes in two sizes: standard letter (8.5″ x 11″) and over-sized (28″ x 40″).
Eco-Friendliness
FiberStone™ requires zero gallons of water to manufacture, as opposed to 16,000 gallons of water for a ton of virgin paper and 9,000 gallons for a ton of 100 percent recycled paper. It also does not need to be bleached for color purposes, which happens to both virgin and recycled paper.
Loyer says that FiberStone™ has many of the benefits of plastic, including durability and the fact that it’s waterproof. While other paper may require a plastic laminant to shield water, FiberStone™ provides its own shield, and is only made of 20 percent HDPE.
How It’s Disposed
If you have access to curbside recycling or a drop-off center, you can probably recycle paper made from trees. But Loyer worked with recycling centers before FiberStone™ was released to determine that it can be recycled with other HDPE (the limestone simply dissolves when the plastic is reprocessed), an increasingly common product in curbside recycling programs.
If FiberStone™ is mistakenly included with other paper recycling, it is simply removed with other paper contaminants prior to recycling.
“While FiberStone™ is recyclable into other more FiberStone™ Paper, there is no system currently in place to recycle FiberStone™ specifically,” says Loyer. “But that is something we are working on as the market increases. In the meantime, HDPE is infinitely recyclable.” You can use Earth911 to find HDPE recycling locations in your area.
Most Exciting Part of Business
“I love helping clients with a campaign where it all comes together,” says Loyer. “We are constantly suggesting different products such as recycled paper palettes that are lighter weight and paper made of lemon, mango or banana. It’s exciting when it matches their marketing campaign and meets the needs of their customers, and in turn comes back to their bottom line as well.”
Favorite of the Three R’s
Loyer is a “reduce” fan, believing that it’s important to save the first time you use a product by understanding what process went into producing it. She adds, “If I can use less, I’m reducing energy and water as well.”
