Is using sustainable paper a priority for your business?
Environmental sustainability has been increasingly at the forefront of people’s minds in the last few years, with many businesses making to effort to reduce paper waste, digitise most documents, and recycle wherever possible.
However, we’ve found that many businesses are choosing to use imported paper that is advertised as recycled or sustainable, but in doing so, their knowledge of the origin of the paper is limited. A contributing factor to this is the fact that most paper suppliers in Australia import their paper from overseas, where it has been milled and recycled.
Not all “sustainable paper” is labelled alike
Without visibility over the paper’s origins, you can’t tell if products advertised as sustainable paper are actually good for the environment. There are several risks involved with using imported paper:
- Without knowledge of where the paper was milled, you can’t know if it was milled sustainably. Unsustainable milling contributes to deforestation, environment destruction and the endangerment of wildlife.
- Products can be advertised as “recycled paper” without specifying what percentage of the paper is recycled.
- Many recycled paper plants use extensive amounts of energy, so often the recycling process isn’t very sustainable.
- Some forests that are logged in Australia are done so unsustainably, contributing to pollution and habitat destruction.
The benefits of using Australian-made Paper
What businesses seek the most in their paper supply is quality of product, affordable in price, and readily available on demand. Australian-made paper meets these qualities, and promotes sustainability, making it the perfect solution for businesses with high paper consumption.
You can get Australian-made paper milled from managed forests in Victoria. These forests supply an affordable, sustainable and quality paper product for the vast majority of your printing needs.using Australian-made paper milled in a managed forest grants you visibility and accountability over the manufacturing origins of the products you engage in your company.
There are four main benefits to using Australian sustainable paper:
- Supporting Australian jobs—during the practice of growing, managing, logging and milling sustainable forests, Australian-made paper provides jobs for Australian workers.
- Habitat for native wildlife—wildlife is given a home through the growth of sustainable forests, and the forests are logged in specific positions and replanted, before moving on to separate sections of forest. This method promotes the growth and replenishment of trees, protecting our native flora and fauna.
- Limited power footprint—the milling of virgin fibres into paper takes significantly less energy than recycling paper, and there is limited transportation-related pollution and energy usage, because the mill is on-site.
How can using Australian-made sustainable paper help your business?
Becoming a more sustainable business helps your reputation and contributes to the protection of Australian careers, wildlife and forests. And now that Australian-made paper is competitive in price, it doesn’t even have to cost you extra!
Australian-made paper is just as cost-effective to print as it is to print with recycled or imported paper, with a guarantee it was milled using sustainable practices. Our Australian laser—which comes standard with our printing jobs—is a strong general purpose paper of consistent quality.
If you’d like to know why we’re such big believers in sustainability, click here to learn more about our Sustainable Printing Practices initiative.
Contact me on 0400 024 905 if you would like to explore the benefits—both organisational and environmental—that sustainable paper has to offer your business.