Sunday, August 19, 2007

pcw. pcf. fsc. wtf? oh... and i'm not a virgin...

ok. i'm quite sure that pretty much ya'll are recycling your paper (you are, right? RIGHT??? :). now it’s time to close the loop. this is a vital step in the lifecycle process, as there must be demand for paper product companies to offer recycled options. makes sense, right?

sweet! now for the confusing part: the mysterious acronyms… the cryptic symbols…they’re enough to give you a massive migraine and make even the huggiest of treehuggers say “fahhgettabbouttit!” but never fear, they aren’t as perplexing as they might seem at first glance.

post-consumer waste (pcw)

also called “post-consumer content” (pcc), post-consumer waste refers to used material collected though household, office and drop-off recycling programs. this is different than “recycled” paper, which is made from pre-consumer content such as paper trimmings from the paper mill and printer and printed materials that never reach the consumer (that's peachy and all, but i have faith that we can all do better, si?).

sooooo, try shopping for paper products (printer paper, facial tissues, paper towels, etc) with the highest pcc percentage (30 percent is optimal). look for packaging that displays the chasing arrows within a circle. this indicates that the product contains recycled content. and, if there’s a percentage in the middle, that indicates the amount of recycled materials in the product. the symbol is often confused with the chasing arrows symbol, which simply indicates that a product may be recycled.


recycled



recyclable


it'll cost you a bit more (then again, try buying in bulk from amazon or ebay... you can find some great deals!)... but, by purchasing paper products with a high PCC, you are not only closing the lifecycle loop, but you are sending a message that will encourage manufacturers to continue the reclamation and use of recycled materials (translation: if there's money to be made, they'll make it!... ahhh.. capitalism!).

processed chlorine free (pcf)

in order to make paper white, paper fibers are bleached (yuck!), even though chlorine-free paper quality is optimal. the only difference is that has not been subjected to a boatload of nasty chemicals. also, the more unbleached paper purchased, the fewer toxins end up polluting our water (whee! everyone wins!). the term "pcf" means that the bleaching process uses no chlorine or chlorine derivatives, thereby eliminating toxic by-products associated with chlorine, such as dioxins.

forest stewardship council (fsc)

the forest stewardship council is an international organization that promotes responsible stewardship of the world’s forests (and, no, no kool-aid is involved). one of the ways it achieves this is through its certification program. besides certifying forest management, it also offers a chain of custody certificate, which provides a guarantee regarding the steps taken from the forest to the consumer, including processing, manufacturing and distribution. by looking for the fsc label on all your paper products, you are contributing to the preservation and responsible management of our forests

btw... serious "bitchin disco!" to renourish.com for its efforts to provide the graphic design industry (and those it so beautifully illustrates) tools to embrace sustainability. i don't know ya'll... but you rock!

that's it for tonight folks. if you still haven't figured out acronyms like lmirl, tdtm, iwsn or nifoc (ewwww... ), try google. that aint my job.

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