CM/Spotlight: Sustainability A quality green paper product is virtually indistinguishable from a conventional product. Following The Green By: Mark Stanland Paper Trail Choosing environmentally preferable towel and tissue prod-ucts for your facility can help pave your environmental path. I Mark Stanland is the vice pres-ident of marketing for Wausau Paper Corporation. Wausau Paper is a leader in providing environmentally preferable washroom solutions, offering the first complete line of towel and tissue products certi-fied by Green Seal in 2003. Today, Wausau Paper provides stylish, versatile dispensing systems and the most extensive selection of Green Seal-certified towel, tissue and soap products in the away-from-home market. for more info Visit www.cmmonline.com and type in search keyword: Sustainability . For more information on related products, visit www.cmmonline.com , select SUPPLIER SEARCH from the main navigation bar, and enter keyword: Paper Products . In today’s marketplace, many consumers of towel and tissue products incorporate environmental considerations in their buying decisions. This includes following mandates or policies to be green or simply wanting to create a healthier environment for their tenants, citizens or employees. However, because of the sheer number of paper products and manufacturers now claiming to offer green products in the away-from-home market, many consumers and buyers of these products are confused by the packaging, marketing and environmental claims. Unfortunately, not all of the products associ-ated with being green are truly environmentally preferable. Buyers and consumers now have to be aware of “greenwashing,” which, simply defined, is mis-leading claims about the environmental benefits of a product. How do we begin to sort through these rhetori-cal claims and discern which products are really environmentally preferable? Think upstream Consider where the products you use in your facility come from and how they are made. Are they made using the best green process? Think downstream What happens when you discard waste from your facility, and what is the impact on the envi-ronment? You want to have as little impact as possible. Keeping these questions in mind, let’s follow the green paper trail, considering all the steps these products take on their way through your facility. Step One: Paper Fiber Paper is made from fibers, either from trees or recycled materials. Using virgin fiber is not green, as it requires the harvesting of trees. The Forestry Stewardship Council (FSC) is a leading monitor of the responsible harvesting of trees, and some products may carry FSC certi-fication. However, the use of virgin fiber is not necessary and is actually wasteful. Towel and tissue products represent the end of the fibers’ lifecycle, as they cannot be recycled again. The best environmental choice is 100 percent recycled products incorporating post-consumer materials. According to the Choose Green Report — Bathroom Tissue and Paper Towels from Green Seal Inc., every ton of 100 percent recycled fiber — roughly 70 cases of roll towels — saves an estimated 4,100 kilowatt-hours of energy, 7,000 gallons of water and 60 pounds of air pollutants. Step Two: Manufacturing Making paper requires water and energy, as well 22 CM/Cleaning & Maintenance Management ® • May 2011
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