The Canadian paper packaging industry’s environmental council, PPEC, has launched a new website specifically focused on paper bags: www.paperbagscanada.org.
The Canadian paper packaging industry’s environmental council, PPEC, has launched a new website specifically focused on paper bags: www.paperbagscanada.org.
“There is information (and a lot of misinformation) about paper bags scattered all over the place,” said PPEC executive director, John Mullinder. “What we are trying to do here is to ensure that customers and consumers have easy access to accurate, concise, and current information on the paper bags used in Canada.”
The website has sections on the different types of paper bags and what they are made from; the renewability of Canada’s forest resource; the mills’ high use of carbon-neutral biomass or renewable energy to make bag material; and the widespread recyclability and compostability of paper bags themselves. There is a section on policy issues such as bag bans and fees, and life cycle analysis. There’s even a quiz and a “Fact and Fiction” section.
“No, we do not race out with a chainsaw every time we need a new bag,” said Mullinder. “The forest industry actually re-grows more trees than it harvests, with almost a thousand new tree seedlings being planted on average every minute.” He added that every Canadian mill producing paper bag material was independently third-party certified that the wood chips and sawmill residues or recycled paper used to make bags was responsibly sourced. “As well, virtually 100% of every tree harvested for kraft paper production is used and/or re-used (the logs for high-value lumber, the wood chips and other sawmill residues for pulp and papermaking, and for the energy that drives the papermaking process itself). We have a great sustainability story to tell and this is the beginning of it.”
The Paper and Paperboard Packaging Environmental Council (PPEC) is a national trade association representing the Canadian paper packaging industry on environmental issues. Its membership includes paper mills producing containerboard, boxboard, and kraft paper packaging grades and the converters who turn this into corrugated boxes, paper bags and sacks, and boxboard or paperboard cartons.
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