For Immediate Release: February 18, 2009
Contact: Joshua Martin, EPN, 828-251-8558 or 828-242-4238, joshua@environmentalpaper.org
What’s in Your Paper?
Environmental Coalition Announces New Website for Paper Purchasers - WhatsInYourPaper.com
A new website now offers an empowering message and helpful resources for paper purchasers who want to make more earth-friendly consumer choices. Environmental Paper Network (EPN), a coalition of over 100 conservation groups including Dogwood Alliance, has unveiled WhatsInYourPaper.com, a comprehensive new online resource to guide and assist paper purchasers and companies to successfully switch to using environmentally superior paper.
In creating the website, EPN cites the urgency of the massive global environmental footprint of the consumption and production of paper and the opportunity presented by the surge in availability of environmentally superior products.
“Paper use is a ubiquitous environmental choice that every person, every office and every corporation makes every day,” said Joshua Martin, Coordinator of the Environmental Paper Network. “We created this website as a one-stop shop for making responsible paper choices simpler.”
“This is a great resource to help customers of the world’s largest paper companies get a better understanding of their purchasing decisions on the world’s special places, including those of the Southern US,” said Andrew Goldberg, Director of Corporate Engagement at Dogwood Alliance. “Reduce and buy recycled first and when necessary ensure your paper is the greenest by choosing those certified by the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC). Taking those steps ensures an end to the most egregious impacts of paper production like large-scale clearcutting, logging of endangered forests, and reliance on heavy chemical use in the forests and at the mill.”
Visitors to the website will find a comprehensive Paper Purchaser’s Toolkit to help purchasers make educated decisions about efficiently using and buying paper with a lighter environmental footprint. The toolkit presents a visual guide called “Paper Steps”, explaining the hierarchy of the environmentally “inferior” papers manufactured from virgin fibers and cause the highest greenhouse gas emissions, to environmentally “superior” papers of made mostly post-consumer recycled material and/or certified by the Forest Stewardship Council and requiring fewer greenhouse gas emissions.
In addition to the Paper Steps, at the site paper buyers can access comprehensive information about how to save money, reduce their carbon footprint, and protect endangered forests.
• Paper buyers can exercise numerous and easy methods to increase their own paper use efficiency
• Visitors can find relevant videos, reports and links to other active resources available from members of the coalition
• The site also hosts EPN’s blog, the Paper Planet, which reports on the growth of the marketplace for environmentally responsible paper and the leadership actions of companies that adopt paper purchasing policies.
Not only does it empower consumers, but WhatsInYourPaper.com also represents an environmental leadership challenge to paper producers like International Paper, to bring additional papers to the marketplace to meet the rising demand for environmentally superior papers. The new website gives access to non-profit organizations specializing in work with segments of the industry including packaging, publishers, corporate purchasing and more, who can help assist anyone drafting or implementing a responsible paper policy.
According to Martin, “This coalition represents millions of members making responsible paper choices in order to stop climate change and today they are asking all companies: ‘What’s in your paper?’”
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To learn more about the Environmental Paper Network visit: http://environmentalpaper.org/
The Steering Committee of the EPN includes: As You Sow, Conservatree, Green America, Dogwood Alliance, ForestEthics, Green Press Initiative, Markets Initiative, National Resource Council of Maine, National Wildlife Federation, and Rainforest Action Network.