let it be written, what is written,
as well as what it is
written on
Do you know where the stuff you use on a daily basis comes from? Maybe you know the country? Probably not. The people that were involved in the production of its many components? Their stories? Not really. Look around you. Everything comes from somewhere else, and someone, probably hundreds of people, were involved in the conception of the idea, the production process, the transportation, everything. In my Economic Geography course we looked at commodity chains, which basically involve tracing things back to were they came from, every step of the way. Being unaware of the source of the things you consume is known as commodity fetishism. Here is something to read to defetishise if you use paper at UBC!
So this blog post is about paper. PAPER! What would we do without paper... Present in our everyday lives, yet so substantiallymorphed from its original form and so readily available that we often use itwithout considering that every sheet goes through a lengthy process before inkof all sorts is unleashed on it. Paper is a commodity, something self evident,ubiquitous and everyday; it is something that we take for granted. How did a tree in a managed forest in the South East USA turn into thesheet of paper you use all the time? Here I'll try and look at the linkages of the convoluted network that connects endless numbers of people,processes and materials in the pulp and paper industry. All information comes from personal communication, unlessstated otherwise. And the names have been changed.
I usepaper every single day. Despite the increase in technology that allowseverything to be done electronically, paper still plays an important role andis often irreplaceable. It is definitely indispensable for the University: inthe year 2010, around 140 million sheets of paper were purchased at UBC (these numbers are not updated on the UBC Sustainability Office, they only have for 2006/2007). I don’tuse a printer at home, but instead take advantage of the convenience offered bythe printers available in the Computer Labs of the Faculty of Forestry, as doaround 200 other students that use the facility on a regular basis. The paper is available to us, asmuch as we want. The copycards are a minimum of ten dollars and the HP LaserJetprinters are constantly being replenished by Fraser, the Computer Lab Manager.Two, three, four times a day as students frantically print off theirassignements at $0.05 per page.
But where does Fraser get the paper? He gets it delivered tohis office thanks to the orders placed by Anne. Anne is the person designated to place the orders for the Dean’sOffice and the Student Computer labs, and she has access to a UBC Purchase Cardnumber with which she can place orders from Unisource, a single-source providerof just-in-time delivery of printing products. Anne started recording paperusage in September 2009, and roughly speaking, an order of 5 boxes (5000 sheetsper box) has been placed every month up to March 2011 for the Computer Labs andthe Dean’s Office.
The paper ordered is Recycled Husky Xerocopy, uncoated 8.5” X 11.5" sheets that are $8.06/1000sheets (+tax) and contain 30% post-consumer fibre. From April 1st 2008,Unisource and UBC have a revised contract that agrees to provide 30%post-consumer recycled paper for the same price as virgin paper. However, there is more behind this branding thatwhat we might think.
 |
| In the paper industry, this symbol is used mainly to demonstrate theamount of recycled fiber in a product. The symbol should be accompaniedby a legend identifying the percentage (by weight) of recycled fiber. Absenceof legend indicates the product is made from 100% recycled fibre. There shouldalso be a specification of what type of fibre it is. Post-consumer fibre hasalready been used once for its intended purpose and returned for re-use,therefore uses less energy and water, and doesn’t impact forest ecosystem. Unisource is the distributor of many different paper brands.Recycled Husky Xerocopy paper is produced by Domtar, the second largestmanufacturer of uncoated paper in the world. The Head Office where thecorporate decisions are made is in Montreal, Canada, and the company employsnearly 13,000 people across North America. |
 |
Most of this picture is SFI, which allows large clearcuts. Centre is FSC. There is no more information about this picture - we don't know if the areas were logged the same time, etc. |
With the help of the stenciled number on the package of the paper, I tracked down where the sheets of paper I use have been every step of the way. James, who works at the Ashdown Mill, told me how there is alot of wildlife in the forests managed for paper and how “ a lot of people think that not using paper willcontribute to more forests and more wildlife, but this is not the case in theSE USA."
The trees were cut down in early 2010 bya harvesting crew, and they could have come from and area that would includemost of East Texas, Southeastern Oklahoma, Central to SouthernArkansas, and Central to Northern Louisiana. Trees are cut and replantedon 12 to 50 year life cycles depending on the timber type. Thenon-recycled fibre in this paper is hardwood fiber (oak and cottonwood) withthe balance being softwood fiber (pine).
The trees were cut into logs and transported to the sawmillfor lumber production. The waste both from the harvesting and the sawmill wasthen sent to the Ashdown pulp mill in Ashdown, AR. The chips could havebeen chipped out of the wood anytime between May and June 7th 2010. The conversion of pine and hardwood chips to pulp for thepaper started around June 7th or 8th 2010. The chips from thedifferent species were mixed, boiled and washed. This separated the fibres fromthe lignin, and then chemical bleach was added to produce the “pleasing 92brightness and good opacity”.
The description on the Husky specification sheet mentions it is “elemental chlorine-free (ECF)”. This is not the same aschlorine-free as the products are still bleached with chlorine-based compoundsthat produce dioxins, which have been connected to cancer, infertility andother critical health problems. Who would have thought that for usto have this white bleached paper a worker in a pulp mill is getting increasedrisk of lung cancer from occupational exposure to sulphur dioxide in pulpmills? We also getthe characteristic “paper-town smell of rotten eggs” from the release ofhydrogen sulfide.
The paper was made from the pulp on June 11th, 2010, at theAshdown Paper Mill. Some of the larger Mills of the company, such as Ashdown,have the pulp mill, paper mill and the converting centre in the same location. Atthe paper mill, the water was drained from the pulp and then subsequentlysqueezed between rollers with heat applications. When the paper was dry, it waswound into giant rolls and transported to the Ashdown Converting Centre.
Sheetconverting is the last stage of papermaking, when the paper rolls are cut intosheets. The sheets were made on June 12th, 2010, and after the paper was cutinto A4 size, packages of 500 sheets were produced. Ten of these packageswere placed into a cardboard box, and 40 of these cardboard boxes were placedon a pallet. Finally, 21 pallets were loaded into a truck. Theloading/unloading is done by workers like Harry. Harry is 25, and he probablyloaded the boxes containing these sheets. His job is variable – sometime heloads trucks with ready-to-use sheets, sometimes he unloads the rolls of paperfrom the paper mill. He describes the work atmosphere as "very hectic", and 60hour labour weeks are common.
Thepaper then started the journey to cross the border and get to the NewWestminister Unisource Distribution Centre in Canada, from where it was shipped to theFaculty of Forestry at the University of British Columbia, about 12 monthsafter the trees that contributed the fibre were felled.
 |
| Sustainable Forestry Initiative logo on packaging. Domtar does carrypaper lines, such as the EarthChoice paper, made from FSC certified fibre. FSCoffers a more effective certification system (comprehensive set of ecological indicators, stringent guidelines, social criteriafocusing on local communities and indigenous peoples, Chain-of-CustodyCertification for careful trucking through all the links of the suply chain,etc.) |
Thepulp and paper supply chain shows how many people are involved over greatgeographical distances. The intention of the chain is to provide the knowledgefor the reader to defetishise and decide independently what to do with thisinformation. Although we asstudents are the main users of the paper in the Forestry’s Computer Labs, probably no one is aware of where the paper comes from. We arereally not faced with a choice of what paper to buy, like we would in asupermarket when choosing between different brands. We just accept theconvenience of the Faculty’s printers without looking further, even if we couldbe demanding paper made with FSC certified-fibre.
When I contactedthe UBC Sustainability Office to inquire about the paper they promoted on theirwebsite for the people that make the orders all over campus (this paper is,just as the Recycled Husky Xerocopy, produced with SFI certified fibre) theywere unaware of the distinction between SFI and FSC certification, and I wasput in contact with Supply Management. They are currently going through arequest for proposal for a preferred paper supplier at UBC. After talking tothem and bringing this to light, UBC will specify FSC certification in the newcontract/bid and will be working with Unisource to find an alternative paperbrand. I thought this was pretty great, and I’m grateful I had the chance to do this project that allowed me to do something to change my consumption practices for the better.
Obtaining all the information on where the paper actually camefrom involved many phone calls all around Canada and theStates – which shows how difficult it is for consumers to obtaininformation on the exact places where the product was made, even with the Chainof Custody label in place. In a printed essay are different places, socialrelations, financial circumstances, and so much more. We just go into theComputer Lab and print as much as we want. Eventually, these sheets of paper(stapled together with a $0.003 Staples staple made from zinc-plated steel inChina and printed with refurbished toner manufactured in the States) will beplaced in one of the 5000 Deskside Recycling Units all over campus, or in oneof the Blue Bins. It will be part of 850 tonnes of office paper and 295 tonnesof cardboard that UBC recycles every year (or part of the illegal 160 tonnes ofoffice paper and 14 tonnes of cardboard that get sent to the landfill).
No comments:
Post a Comment