Print Buying Direct

Sustainable forestry and the Print and Paper Industry – 7th January 2010

But recycled fibre has to start life somewhere; it cannot be recycled forever. Some products probably always will have to be made from new fibre, and many will continue a high proportion of new fibre for the foreseeable future.

This new fibre needs to be sources responsibly. This means that it must come from a sustainable source, i.e. managed forestry rather than from natural or old growth forests. The concept of managed, sustainable forestry is no different to arable farming except that a much longer cycle is involved in the cropping and replanting processes. A 30-year cycle is typical, although it can be as little as 10 years or as long as 100 years – but the principle remains the same. Provided the tree-farmer is working in a sustainable way and caring for his land and its products, it is broadly the same as any other type of farming. However, because forests are seen also as a place of recreation, and home for a huge range of flora and fauna, other conservations issues are involved. The economics of forestry production require that in most cases single species need to be planed together, just as a farmer plants large areas of wheat, for example. It is not unreasonable, however, for certain areas of forestry to be set aside as conservation areas so that wildlife has an undisturbed habitat – but it is not economically practical for this to apply to all forests.

Where possible, it is preferable for mixed species of trees to be planted rather than monocultures, and other aspects of forestry management, which give wildlife a better chance of survival, are better understood today and are now practised widely by responsible foresters. All this costs money in terms of productivity and manpower and the natural concern of forest owners is to what extent the consumer will pay more for products coming from responsibly managed forests as opposed to those that might be more productive and cost less. It’s the same debate as one might find about free-range eggs or organic vegetable – but the market is unknown when it comes to forest products. We may not be many years away from a widely recognised certification process for forest products to indicate their environmental pedigree, but it doesn’t exist yet. Perhaps the best guide today is to establish the country of origin. Traditional pulp sources used by European producers are regarded as environmentally quite advanced. Unfortunately this whole matter is very subjective. Individuals have widely differing views on the importance of assuring that continuity of individual species of, say, a particular fungus – and what is a reasonable cost – even if few would argue with the general principle of maintaining bio-diversity.

Peter Harrison is Joint Managing Director of The Printing House Ltd,
and Print Buying Direct of Crewe, Cheshire, UK.

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For more information on printing and graphic design please see some of our recent blog articles;

• Printing – Raw materials for Paper sourcing
• Environmental impacts of paper for printing
• Printing – Areas of environmental impact – Emissions to air and Bleaching
• Printing – Areas of environmental impact – Energy
• Sustainable forestry in paper making for printing

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