By Jessica Harlan

Posted: 02.12.10 | Tagged: consumption, paper, post-consumer, reuse

Ever wonder what happens to the paper you put in your recycling bin? Some of it just might end up in the pages of a Harry Potter book, or as a love note on a funky piece of stationery. We spoke to Jeff Mendelsohn, founder and CEO of New Leaf Paper, to see how his company is blazing an eco-conscious paper trail.

What is New Leaf Paper's mission?
We've held a very clear mission since the day we opened our doors: to inspire, through our success, a fundamental shift towards sustainability in the paper industry. If we can successfully prove that there's good business in being truly environmentally responsible, that's the best way to influence the behavior of others.

Tell us where you get the recycled materials to make your paper.
Most of our paper comes from high quality post-consumer recycled content, sourced from a nearby de-inking plant that turns paper into pulp. There is still a need for some virgin fiber because it is impossible for the entire market to be served by recycled materials. Where virgin fiber is necessary, we use sustainably harvested fiber. In fact, we had the first FSC-certified coated paper in North America.

According to The Green Book, post-consumer recycled paper requires 44 percent less energy to produce than virgin paper.

What about at the mill? Are there green ways of manufacturing paper?
Part of our vision for sustainability is called "Pulp Nonfiction," and it's all about sustainable mill design and sustainable processes within the industry. One mill we work with in Denmark is an example of how we can dramatically reduce the [environmental] impact of the paper industry. At this mill, 70 percent of their fiber usage comes from their own waste paper processing: they're the largest recycler of waste paper in Denmark. The rest of the fiber comes from FSC certified virgin forests. They also have clean bleaching, where they whiten paper with hydrogen peroxide instead of chlorine compounds. What's more, they're able to turn 99 percent of their manufacturing by-products into useful products. For instance, when they process waste paper, the non-pulp leftovers are used as a clay/filler material that is sent to cement manufacturers. And some oils that come from the ink are sent to a cogent plant and used for fuel.

Besides using recycled and responsible raw materials, what else is your company doing to help the environment?
In one of our core markets, we use 100 percent biodiesel for all of our deliveries. More importantly, we use rail for a vast majority of our shipments from the manufacturer to the warehouse - rail is an enormous improvement over trucks from an environmental standpoint.

Around the office, we offset our emissions with energy credits, we encourage the use of public transportation, and we offer organic fruits and vegetables to our team.

We hear you printed some of the Harry Potter books.
Yes, we were used for the last three Harry Potter books printed in Canada, which was a huge success. We had worked with printers, book publishers, authors and environmental nonprofit groups to build enough critical mass to launch a line of publishing paper, which is hard to do because publishing paper is an extreme commodity with very low margins. We started in 2001 with smaller publishers, and within 2 years we were able to get the Harry Potter books on 100 percent recycled paper.

The exciting part is that in the following years, this impacted the paper industry worldwide; several mills launched competing recycled publishing papers, and soon in Europe, Australia and the U.S., the Harry Potter books were all printed on recycled paper.

What else are you working on?
We've created a greeting card line called the Karma Card. The front panel is perforated and designed to be resent as a postcard, giving the card a second life. And we've partnered with Office Depot, who sells our 100 percent recycled copy paper, as well as resume and business paper, notebooks and composition books.

And finally, what can consumers do to be more responsible when it comes to paper?
Use less paper. Doing more with less is not about lowering your standard of living, but about being creative and resourceful. I think traditional paper usage is becoming outdated.

Got any creative ideas for reusing paper, or for cutting down on your paper usage? Share them with others in the RecycleBank community by commenting below.