Paperless Office - Environmental Impact of Paper

Environmental Impact of Paper

Paper product manufacturing contributes significantly to deforestation and man-made climate change, and produces greenhouse gases. Paper-making is the third largest user of fossil fuels in the developing world. Although measures such as recycling and using tree-free paper can help reduce the environmental impact of paper, most paper still ends up in landfills. Paper production also leads to air pollution, as paper manufacturing releases Nitrogen dioxide (NO₂) sulfur dioxide (SO₂), and carbon dioxide (CO₂). Nitrogen dioxide and sulfur dioxide are major contributors to acid rain, whereas CO₂ is a greenhouse gas responsible for climate change. Waste water discharged from pulp and paper mills contains solids, nutrients, and dissolved organic matter that are classified as pollutants. Nutrients such as nitrogen and phosphorus can cause or exacerbate eutrophication of fresh water bodies.

Printing inks and toners are very expensive and use environment-damaging volatile organic compounds, heavy metals and non-renewable oils, although standards for the amount of heavy metals in ink have been set by some regulatory bodies. Deinking recycled paper pulp results in a waste slurry, sometimes weighing 22% of the weight of the recycled wastepaper, which may go to landfills.