As global focus on sustainability continues to rise, plastics used for packaging and other single use applications have come under scrutiny in recent years. According to a European consumer preferences survey commissioned by Two Sides in 2020, 62% of consumers consider paper and cardboard packaging as better for the environment, and 70% of consumers are actively taking steps to reduce their use of plastic packaging.

Plastic, made directly from fossil fuels, a non-renewable resource, is categorized as "poor" when it comes to renewable and sustainably grown materials. It is estimated that 4% of the world's oil production is used as feedstock for plastics. However, the plastic manufacturing process itself requires less energy than paper manufacturing, as making paper from trees is environmentally intensive.

Consumers today widely view paper as a more environmentally friendly alternative to plastic. But how do the two materials really compare? And what is the most sustainable solution?

At the COP26 conference held in Glasgow in November 2021, deforestation was discussed, and steps were laid out to halt and reverse forest loss and land degradation by 2030. The focus points to achieve this goal include conserving forests and accelerating their restoration, facilitating trade and development policies that promote sustainable development, increasing and improving effectiveness and accessibility of finance and investment for sustainable forest management, conservation, and restoration, and ensuring robust policies and systems are in place to accelerate the transition to an economy that is resilient and advances forest, sustainable land use, biodiversity, and climate goals.

So, if we're using more paper, are we making the forest loss target unachievable? The sustainability of the wood supply chain varies greatly depending on responsible forest management. In areas where forests are not sustainably managed, important habitats can be destroyed. However, in responsibly managed areas certified by FSC or PEFC, using more paper can actually lead to more trees. This is because many organizations have set up schemes to plant several trees for each one that is felled. According to the USDA Forest Service, the US lumber industry plants 1.7 million trees each day.

Recycling has been a game-changer in the paper world. Paper is relatively easy to recycle as it can be re-pulped and does not rely on chemical reactions, making it less sensitive to contamination. Recycling paper not only saves trees but also reduces the amount of resources used. According to estimates, for every ton of paper that is recycled, 17 trees are spared, along with 380 gallons of oil, 2.29 cubic meters of landfill space, 4,000 kilowatts of energy, and 7,000 gallons of water.

In addition, paper is widely recyclable and decomposes much more quickly than plastic, making it less likely to be a source of litter and pose a risk to wildlife. Plastic bags, on the other hand, can take between 400 and 1,000 years to decompose. While plastics can also be recycled, achieving high levels of post-consumer recycled content in plastics is currently difficult due to post-consumer waste contamination.

We recently attended the Environmental Packaging Summit, where various speakers shared insightful statistics. For example, 40% of the world's plastics are single use plastics, and a garbage truck of plastics enters the oceans every minute, totaling 8 million tonnes per year. However, new innovations are making it more common for plastic to be recycled back into its original use. CarbonLITE Industries, for example, recycles more than 2 billion PET bottles into food-grade post-consumer PET, making it one of the largest producers of food-grade recycled PET in the world.