The Myth: Paper has a high carbon footprint.

The Fact: It’s not as high as you think!

Carbon footprint is generally defined as the amount of carbon dioxide (CO2) and other greenhouse gases that a person, organization, event or product causes to be released to the atmosphere, either directly or indirectly, during its life. For paper products, this life includes everything from harvesting trees through the manufacturing process to use and disposal or recycling. A look across this entire life cycle shows that paper’s carbon footprint can be divided into three basic elements: greenhouse gas emissions, carbon sequestration and avoided emissions. Each of these elements is influenced by important characteristics that make paper’s carbon footprint smaller than might be expected: it’s made from a renewable resource that stores carbon, it’s manufactured using mostly renewable energy and it’s recyclable.

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