Paper Isn’t the Answer

With all of the anger built up around disposable plastic bags and the hype built up to get them off the market, it isn’t hard to make a leap to the assumption that paper bags are the eco-savvy answer. Not so fast — the production process of paper is, in truth, just as costly and pollutant as plastic, and it’s only getting worse. The big bonus for paper is supposed to be its superior recycling properties, but according to the BBC, its effectiveness is dwindling as prices rise due to a combination of poor technique and crumbling economies in the overseas markets on which we have relied.

At warehouses around the country giant stacks of recycled paper were piled high at the end of 2008 as the global downturn led to a slump in demand.

Much of our “mixed” paper – which could be contaminated with other materials – is shipped to China and the Far East to be recycled in giant mills. But this market suddenly dried up in November and December as China’s economy slowed.

Last September, when recycling prices peaked, a tonne of mixed paper fetched between £65 and £75. But today that has fallen to just £15. Paper that has been separated and is not contaminated peaked at between £90 to £115 a tonne. Now it is worth about £40.

It could mean problems for any councils which have based budgets on the higher prices.

The back-up of resources and dwindling costs have led to very real thoughts about some unsavory methods of alternative deployment to avoid the worst-case scenario:

A spokesman for the Local Government Association (LGA) said in November a quarter of councils had had to find extra storage space for unwanted paper, plastic, glass and metal.

And the economic downturn could force authorities to look at alternative ways of dealing with recycled paper, he said.

“I think we will have to look at all manner of scenarios. We may need to look at incineration of paper.

“What councils want to avoid at all costs is sending [paper] to landfill.”

Incineration is obviously terrible for the atmosphere, but paper left to rot in a landfill has problems of its own, most notably producing twice the atmospheric waste of decaying plastic counterparts. It’s a difficult dilemma, deciding what to do with all this paper already produced and on the planet. But in the meantime, how about getting a reusable bag for your groceries and helping to curb the build-up before it gets even worse?

Photo via Flickr!

Wednesday, January 21st, 2009 at 11:56 am and is filed under The Daily. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.