Paper manufacture
I was born in small town with name Ust-Ilimsk. It has city base manufacture - wood industrial complex (pulp mill).
Pulp mill is a manufacturing facility that converts wood chips or other plant fibre source into a thick fibre board which can be shipped to a paper mill for further processing.
I visited that manufacture many many times. Every time I approached to that manufacture I felt very bad smell - the smell of chlorine. Every employee had to pass safety instruction what to do if there is smell of chlorine - leave that place as soon as possible. It smells like very expired eggs and it is poison gas.
Chlorine gas is used by wood industrial complex to bleach paper.
The bleaching process used to whiten products, particularly paper, paper products, and tissue products. Chlorine used in manufacturing processes affects not only the environment but also human health as well.
Up until the late 1990s, chlorine was the chemical of choice for bleaching paper in the kraft pulping process, which produces almost all printing and office papers, as well as tissue products, along with some types of packaging. Not only does chlorine get paper fibers very white, it also pulls out and binds with lignins (the structural cells in the tree that cause paper to deteriorate).
However, when chlorine bonds chemically with carbon-based compounds (such as lignins),
it produces dioxins and toxic pollutants, such as organochlorines and dioxins (are some of the most toxic substances ever created).
When released into water, dioxin do not break down.
Dioxin, even when released in miniscule amounts, bioaccumulates as it moves up the food chain,
reaching its highest concentration in humans, where it is increasingly linked to cancers as well as endocrine, reproductive, nervous and immune system damage. Dioxin known as TCDD has been classified by the International Agency for Research on Cancer and the EPA as a known human carcinogen. Here is link to the article, regarding cancer: Putting the Breast Cancer/Chlorine Connection on Paper
Chlorine gas is very poisonous and idea to use it as a weapon came in 1915 during First World War. You can find more details here: Weapons of War - Poison Gas
Nowadays, some people mix bleach and vinegar to lowers the pH of bleach to make better disinfectant, but it releases toxic chlorine gas. It would take about 10 mg/m3 of Chlorine Gas to kill someone in a painful matter. So, if you room were 10sqm large than you’ll need to have a gas ratio of 1000 mg/room. So you’ll have to get roughly about 2 bottles of bleach and mix that with Vinegar in a 1:1 ratio
should fill your room with a mist of 10 mg/m3 of chlorine Gas in your room.
Environment pollution
According to a Canadian citizens organization,
"People need paper products and we need sustainable, environmentally safe production.
The amount of paper and paper products is enormous, so the environmental impact is also very significant. It has been estimated that by 2020 paper mills will produce almost 500,000,000 tons of paper and paperboard per year. By statistic, to produce 1 ton of printing and office paper needed 24 trees. If you use recycled paper you can save ~12 trees.
More accurate calculations you can find here:
http://www.conservatree.org/learn/EnviroIssues/TreeStats.shtml
As for environmental pollution, Pulp and paper is the third largest industrial polluter to air, water, and land in both Canada and the United States, and releases well over 100 million kg of toxic pollution each year. There is Government web site, which has numbers for 2009 in Canada:
http://ec.gc.ca/pdb/websol/emissions/ap/ap_result_e.cfm?year=2009&substance=all&location=CA§or=&submit=Search
Scientists plans
What scientists suggested to reduce chlorine usage in paper manufacture is to bring new methods of bleaching paper. Debates started in 80s to use chlorine free manufacture. Best option is TCF - common paper marketing terminology uses several phrases:
Elemental Chlorine
A chemical gas that brightens paper fibers and removes lignins. It binds with carbon-based compounds (such as trees) to produce dioxins and toxic pollutants.
Elemental Chlorine Free (ECF)
Uses a chlorine compound, most often chlorine dioxide, that significantly reduces dioxins but does not eliminate them. Paper companies using ECF often say that dioxin is "nondetectable" in their wastewater. This refers only to the sensitivity of prescribed tests, and does not necessarily mean there are no dioxins. State-of-the-art tests are often able to detect dioxins when prescribed tests find them nondetectable. Some ECF mills go beyond simply bleaching with chlorine dioxide. If they have added "extended delignification" and do part of their processing with ozone or oxygen or other non-chlorine brighteners, they can further reduce their potential for producing dioxins.
Process Chlorine Free (PCF)
Uses only non-chlorine bleaching processes, including oxygen, peroxide and ozone bleaching systems. Eliminates dioxins and chlorinated toxic pollutants by not producing them in the first place.
Totally Chlorine Free (TCF)
Uses totally chlorine free processing and includes recycled content.
Both the recycled fiber and any virgin fiber must be bleached without chlorine or chlorine compounds.
What is in reality
In Europe, paper mill started switch to ECF 20 years ago. And only now, under intense pressure from the EPA, U.S. mills have finally made switch to ECF. Meanwile, European countries, notably Germany, are hard at work transforming their paper mills into totally chlorine free (TCF) bleaching operations. The good news is that many recycled pulp mills in the US are using TCF processes. In any way, if you buy imported paper from Europe, you have more chances to buy TCF paper. So the bottom line is, if you request chlorine free paper, be sure the paper provider can tell you what they mean by “Chlorine Free”. Ask what is used in the bleaching process.
Paper Towel and Napkin Green Tips
1) Purchase paper towels made of 100 percent recycled materials.
There are two types of materials used in recycled paper products: Post-consumer fiber and recovered fiber. Post-consumer fibers come from paper that has already been used by the consumer and sent to recycling. Recovered fiber is from paper waste leftover in manufacturing, such as trim, scraps, unused stock. When you are buying recycled paper products, strive for 100 percent recycled paper with a minimum of 90 percent post-consumer materials. The higher the post-consumer percentage, the more paper is being saved from hitting the landfill. Usually, Totally Chlorine Free (TCF) paper towels and napkins are brown, and a very pretty brown at that.
2) Look for paper products that contain a minimum of 90 percent post-consumer waste.
3) Choose unbleached paper towels. If those are unavailable, opt for process chlorine free (PCF) next, or elemental chlorine free (ECF) as a last choice
How to check what paper product was made of and how?
I, personally, tried find detail information about paper products at packs and of course couldn't find what I was looking for. There are 2 sources, which you can use to find out true about product:
1) The Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) provides a very useful guide for paper towels, toilet paper, tissues, neatly charting data on different brands of paper towel, covering three important points: the bleaching process, the percent recycled, and the percent of paper towel made from post-consumer waste.
http://www.nrdc.org/land/forests/gtissue.asp
2) There is another good resource - Green Peace.
Here is report by brands in Canada for 2010:
http://www.greenpeace.org/canada/Global/canada/report/2010/4/GP-Tissue_Guide_ENG_2010.pdf
I came to following conclusion:
Try use following brands:
- Cascades (Canadian Tire)
- Green Forest
- 365
- Seventh Generation
Try avoid following brands (they use ECF):
- Bounty
- Kleenex
- Life Brand (Shoppers Drug Mart)
Of course, my recommendations are based on current date. I hope that all companies will switch to more ecological methods of producing paper products in nearest future.
P.S.
Here is interesting fact about Shoppers Drug Mart. It has brand "Life Brand", which is old - try avoid it (it is in list above). Shoppers Drug Mart made made new brand, called "Bio*Life".
As you can see at picture, they are declaring that product is chlorine free. May be it is true, but
I couldn't find them at NRDC web site. They pack has also EcoLogo, but I couldn't find them at EcoLogo web site too ?????? :-) Let me know if somebody knows details about "Bio*Life" brand.
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