Eco Products

Paper and the Environment

Today, more and more people are becoming aware of the need to take care of our environment. Manufacturers are taking steps on making their products environmental friendly. However, because of commercialism, these manufacturers can not fully apply environmental friendly processes in their production. This awareness to preserve the ecological balance of our environment gave rise to the emergence of people who produce eco –friendly products or simply eco products.

It is a positive move to create products that are eco friendly but the question is, can people afford them? How are they going to be mass produced? What is the best process that will give the least impact to our environment? Plenty of investors are engaging in the production of eco products. Eco malls on line are now available. What are the advantages of these eco products? Let us take for example one of the most used item, paper. Anywhere in the world, people use a lot of paper.

For illustration, let us talk about handmade paper. The objective of producing handmade paper  is to reduce the amount of paper waste generated by offices, to reduce the demand for paper made from wood fiber, to save our planet from global warming and to stop deforestation and to save our forest reserves.

It is common knowledge that to produce a ton of paper from pulp requires about 17 large trees adding to the deforestation of most virgin forests. Many analysts and environmentalists say that due to these cutting of trees, landslides and floods are now experienced worldwide. An average office worker throws away between 35 to 50 kilos of paper per year. If you multiply that to the total office workers in the world, how much would that be? The growing concern around the globe to preserve our forest reserves led various corporations, government agencies, communities and other groups of people to promote products and technologies that will help in the preservation of the environment.

Paper manufacturing uses energy, water and chemicals which produces wastes. Paper made from recycled fibers or handmade paper requires at least 50% less energy and up to 75% less water than making it from pulp. Homemade papermaking craft is being revived and there are numerous people who engage in this business. Handmade paper is environmental friendly and they are very safe to use. What are the benefits of handmade papers? We can save more trees; they are made with pollution free methods, acid free, more durable and with elegant finish.

However, making handmade paper entails a lot of process. Starting from the collection of used paper to the actual making will take plenty of steps, effort and time. This is mainly the reason why most people would rather buy products that are readily available at the supermarkets and groceries. Consequently, handmade products cost higher than factory made products. It will entail a lot of effort in educating people about the need to help in preserving our environment and the need to patronize eco friendly products. When the people become aware of the value of purchasing and using eco products only then we can achieve a clean and safe environment.