Reducing climate change gas emissions by cutting out stages in the life cycle of office paper

Thomas A.M. Counsell and Julian M. Allwood

Resources, Conservation & Recycling, 2007, vol. 49, issue 4, 340-352

Abstract: The paper industry's climate change gas emissions are growing. This article considers how to reduce emissions from cut-size office paper by bypassing stages in its life cycle. The options considered are: incineration, which cuts out landfill; localisation, which cuts out transport; annual fibre, which cuts out forestry and reduces pulping; fibre recycling, which cuts out landfill, forestry and pulping; un-printing, which cuts out all stages except printing; electronic-paper, which cuts out all stages. Un-printing may offer the greatest climate change emission reduction. There are uncertainties in this result, particularly in estimating the proportion of waste office paper would be suitable for un-printing.

Keywords: Climate change mitigation; Office paper; Recycling; Un-printing (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2007
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:recore:v:49:y:2007:i:4:p:340-352

DOI: 10.1016/j.resconrec.2006.03.018

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