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RECYCLED-PAPER MILLS PRODUCE FAR FEWER TOXICS THAN MILLS USING VIRGIN WOOD, STUDY FINDS

NOTE: This press release is embargoed until 10:45 a.m. EDT (7:45 a.m. PDT) Thursday, September 1, 1994, when Daniel Press will present his findings at the annual meeting of the American Political Science Association in New York City, which is being held at the Hilton Hotel and Towers.

NEW YORK--Producing recycled paper is dramatically cleaner for the environment than making paper products from virgin-wood fiber, according to a study reported today (September 1) by an environmental policy analyst from the University of California, Santa Cruz.

Assistant professor of environmental studies Daniel Press found that relative to mills that use virgin wood, recycled-paper mills generate a fraction of the toxic substances such as chlorine, chloroform, ammonia, acids, and solvents that are commonly released in paper manufacturing. Although the number of mills producing recycled paper remains relatively small industry-wide, the environmental impact of paper manufacturing could be greatly improved through the use of recovered wastepaper, Press concludes. Press based his study on data reported to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) by pulp and paper manufacturers from 1987 to 1992.

"The pulp and paper industry has been one of the dirtiest industries in the country," says Press, who presented his findings at the annual meeting of the American Political Science Association in New York City. "This study confirms the problems faced by the industry, but it also shows the enormous improvement that is possible with new technology and manufacturing processes."

Press's findings are based on reports of total annual releases in 1992 of chlorine, chlorine dioxide, chloroform, ammonia, hydrochloric and sulfuric acids, and the solvents methanol, acetone, and methyl ethyl ketone. Many of these toxic substances are carcinogenic or have been linked to birth defects. Other hazards include respiratory problems and skin irritation. As used in paper mills, chlorine can produce dioxin, a highly carcinogenic compound. Chlorine is used to bleach paper products; chloroform is a common by-product of the use of chlorine in paper manufacturing.

Press used EPA reports from three types of mills: integrated mills (which produce pulp and paper) that use recovered wastepaper solely or primarily; pulp mills that use virgin-wood fiber; and integrated mills that use virgin-wood fiber. A fourth type of mill, pulp mills that use recycled materials, was omitted from the findings because the mills reported few or no releases of most chemicals monitored by the EPA.

When he compared the toxics produced per 100 tons of finished product--a small mill's typical daily output--Press found that integrated mills using recycled paper released 3 to 100 times fewer pounds of toxics on average than mills using virgin wood. For instance, integrated mills using recycled paper released 0.1 pounds of chlorine on average for every 100 tons of product, versus 4.2 pounds for integrated mills using virgin wood and 10.6 pounds for pulp mills using virgin wood. For every chemical listed, recycled- paper mills were "cleaner" than virgin-wood mills. (A table of Press's findings is available; see editor's note below.)

"Looking at the toxics this way gives us a pretty good breakdown of the average amounts of toxics being released relative to product being generated," notes Press.

For his study, Press used industry data reported to the EPA's Toxic Release Inventory (TRI) between 1987 and 1992. Thirty integrated mills used recovered wastepaper and reported releases during that period, and 20 pulp mills using virgin wood reported releases. Because hundreds of integrated mills use only virgin-wood fiber, Press's analysis is based on figures reported by a random sample of 29 of those mills.

The TRI was created as part of the EPA's Superfund Amendments and Reauthorization Act of 1986, also known as the Community Right-to-Know law. The law requires companies that have ten or more employees and that use significant amounts of any of some 300 listed chemicals to report their emissions to the EPA annually. Companies must report the maximum amount of chemical on site, the number of pounds released to air, land, and water, whether these are point-source emissions or "fugitive" emissions, and whether discharges are treated, recovered for energy, or recycled. Press believes that his analysis is the first review of TRI data for the paper and pulp industry.

Press emphasizes that the TRI data are all self-reported, and some reports may not be reliable; companies are seldom audited by the EPA. In addition, companies unfamiliar with reporting requirements may have made significant errors in the first few years that reports were due. Nevertheless, the data give the best available picture of the environmental impact of the pulp and paper industry, says Press.

Although TRI data for the firms examined in the study show that all pulp and paper companies have dramatically decreased their reported releases of chlorine and chlorine dioxide since 1987, the firms using wood fiber were releasing far greater amounts of chlorine to begin with. For instance, the 30 integrated mills using recycled materials reported that they released a total of 1,861 pounds of chlorine in 1992. Press's random sample of 29 integrated mills using virgin wood, in contrast,reported 287,523 pounds of chlorine released, while the 20 pulp mills using virgin wood reported 411,296 pounds. Similar dramatic differences exist for chloroform and the other substances in thestudy. The large differences are partly due to the greater amount of pulp and paper produced byvirgin-wood mills, Press notes.

The EPA has credited the paper industry as a whole with reducing its toxic releases by 14.3 percent from 1988 to 1992, but Press observes that not all segments of the industry are yielding high environmental benefits. Indeed, among the paper companies whose data Press reviewed are a company that ranked among the top 50 largest polluters in the country in any industry and one company that was among the top 50 facilities with the greatest decrease in total toxic releases. "The range of performance of those two companies reflects the overall trends. The range of environmental impact within the paper industry is enormous," says Press.

The fledgling recycled paper industry has been competing with manufacturers that use virgin-wood pulp with little help, notes Press. "The EPA has been trying to move the whole industry rather than singling out the segment that has shown dramatic improvement," he says. "I think we should favor the recyclers, and these data support that approach. Public policy should be actively directed at lowering the barriers to recycling paper." Research and development money should be directed at developing better ways of de-inking wastepaper and building the infrastructure to collect recycled paper, as well as continuing efforts to improve bleaching technology, which benefits all mills, according to Press.

The paper industry study is part of a broader examination of market forces and industry trends that affect the "greening" of industry in the United States. That study is coauthored by Press and Dan Mazmanian, a professor of political science and director of the Center for Politics and Economics at The Claremont Graduate School in Claremont, CA.

(This release is also available on UC NewsWire, the University of California's electronic news service. To access by modem, dial 1- 209-244-6971.)

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