Warning: Importing coated paper
may be hazardous to the environment
Coated paper is paper that has been treated with a thin coat of clay or other compound on one or both sides, giving it tremendous versatility for countless products. It is one of the fastest growing segments of the world’s paper industry and, in the last few years, its production in developing countries has expanded exponentially. Since 1990, the Chinese paper industry alone has accounted for fifty percent of overall growth in the market for coated paper.
While U.S. and Canadian manufacturers have the capacity to fulfill North American coated paper requirements, China, along with South Korea and Indonesia, currently comprise about 40% of the North American coated paper market, evidence of which can be found in the substantial weight and space taken up by Asian sourced coated paper in the world’s 90,000 container ships.
Last month, the Los Angeles Times reported that tug boats and tankers using inexpensive dirty “bunker” fuel emit more soot than previously acknowledged and contribute to thousands of deaths from particular pollution annually. In another article, the Los Angeles Times noted that in response to these findings, California has instituted the planet’s toughest pollution laws for ocean going vessels. Over the protests of Asian carriers, beginning in July 2009 oil tankers, cruise ships and container ships coming within 24 nautical miles of California will be required to burn low-sulphur diesel or face stiff fines. Hopefully, other states along the Eastern and Western Seaboards and the Gulf of Mexico will follow suit and force everyone to play by a set of rules that will benefit us all.
The health hazard of unnecessary ship pollution is just one of the many reasons to keep an attentive eye on the source of paper products you and your company use. It’s often difficult to trace the source of paper coming from outside the U.S., but a bit of probing tells wholesalers and retailers that these are issues that may affect their business. We’ve developed an “ISSUES” series to keep you current with the risks of imported paper.
Click on the red folder icons on the left of the screen to learn more. Bookmark this page and stay tuned as we add more sections. And please, educate your clients and colleagues. Tell them about the risk of paper from unverifiable chains of supply. Send them a link to our site and we’ll get this dialog going.
In the meantime, please send your comments to contact@papertellsastory.com and share with us your paper story.
While I applaud the general thrust of this article, you should be sure to get your facts straight, e.g. we imported only about 17% paper from China (http://www.trade.gov/press/publications/newsletters/ita_0407/china_paper_0407.asp) in 2006, and less last year, now that the tariffs are in place; Korea and Indonesia shares are even smaller. Misuse of data can only serve to impact your credibility.
And I would be even more concerned about the ships burning bunker oil if you included the overall environmental impact of shipping stuff thousands of miles. Using sensationalism again does not help your credibility; didn’t any of you go to college?
Thanks Tom. The percentage value to which you are referring was extracted from the “Social Impacts of The Paper Industry,” Environmental Paper Network, July 2007 and “Social Conflict and Environmental Disaster: A Report on Asia Pulp and Paper’s operations in Sumatra, Indonesia, Rivani Noor and Rully Syumanda,” August, 2006, footnoted on page 3 of the “Environmental Issues” section. The purpose of papertellsastory.com is to initiate a global dialog for measurable change. And not just within the paper industry – but in every industry in which ethical and environmental stewardship is a core value to both the company and its customers. The editors of this site encourage readers to ask questions and present information that we can all learn from and move us closer to the truth.
Why do we need to import paper when there are mills sitting idle and people without work here in North america? Are the companies making the paper we import replanting the trees?