GENERAL DEFINITIONS

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TERM

DEFINITION and TIPS

1

RECYCLED PAPER

Currently, there is no agreement on what the term "recycled paper" means, beyond the fact that it contains recovered fiber (which may be preconsumer and/or postconsumer). You should establish strong postconsumer standards in your specifications and ensure that suppliers meet those standards. You must also question what others mean by "recycled paper" unless the postconsumer content is clearly labeled.

2

POSTCONSUMER MATERIAL

The critical words here are "end products" and "consumers." Products, scraps and materials still in the production or value-added process do not qualify. Examples that do qualify include office wastepaper, junkmail and magazines from people's homes, undeliverable mail at the Postal Service's dead-letter office, office wastepaper, and shipping packaging from delivered products.

3

END PRODUCT

An item having completed the manufacturing or converting process and distributed or sold to a consumer (4) for other than resale or manufacture of other goods.

4

CONSUMER

Any person, government agency or other entity which uses goods for its own needs, and not for resale or for manufacture of other goods.

5

RECOVERED MATERIAL

This term refers to the universe of materials that count as recycled content, both preconsumer and postconsumer. It is consistent with EPA's definition, which includes all materials produced after the initial papermaking process. Despite allowing inclusion of large amounts of scraps that may never have left the mill, it is consistent with the practical reality of how mills make their paper. However, the American Forest & Paper Assn. includes mill broke (6) in their statistics on recovered materials

6

MILL BROKE

Mill broke is not counted as recycled or recovered material. Originally, "mill broke" referred to all the scrap in a mill. Economic viability ensured that mills reused it in making new paper. But EPA defines mill broke as being only that portion of scraps produced in the initial paper manufacturing process (see 8). The amount of paper scrap in a mill that counts towards recycled content percentages can be quite large, particularly if the mill also sheets its paper.

7

PULP SUBSTITUTES

Examples: envelope cuttings, tabulating cards, and other types of post-mill converting wastes.

9

PAPER MANUFACTURING PROCESS

An operation which begins with the pulping of fibrous and non-fibrous raw materials and ends after the first slitter/winder with the cutting and trimming of the reel into smaller rolls. In an operation A) in which the finished product is sheeted directly off the machine, the production of rough sheets constitutes the end of the process; B) which involves supercalendering, the end of the process is at the slitter/winder following the supercalender; and C) which involves off-machine coating, the process ends at the slitter/winder following the coater or the supercalender associated with the coater.

9

PRECONSUMER MATERIALS

Preconsumer materials have not met their intended end-use by a consumer, and include allowable waste left over from manufacturing, converting and printing processes. Examples: mill converting scraps, preconsumer deinking material, pulp substitutes.

10

MILL CONVERTING SCRAPS

Example: scraps left over from sheeting operations in a mill.

11

DEINKING FIBER

There is both preconsumer and postconsumer deinking fiber. Examples of preconsumer: printing scraps and unsold ("over issue") magazines.

12

RECYCLED FIBER

Fiber derived from recovered material (5) which is included in the fiber finish of an end product (3).

13

FOREST RESIDUES

Examples: chips, stumps, branches and sawdust.Although U.S. federal agencies are required to buy paper that meets postconsumer standards, EPA and the Federal Executive allow one mill in Maine to qualify its papers by including 50% sawdust instead of postconsumer content, despite the fact it's common in virgin papers. Don't make the same mistake.

14

RENEWABLE

A term proposed by the paper industry for virgin paper made from "renewable resources" such as managed tree plantations. Does not ensure environmentally sound paper.

15

SOURCE REDUCTION

A product or process that results in a net reduction in the generation of waste compared to the previous or comparable version, and includes durable, reusable and remanufactured products; products with no, or reduced, toxic constituents; and products marketed with no, or reduced, packaging.

16

WASTEPAPER

An EPA term, including both preconsumer and postconsumer materials, introduced in the original 1988 recycled paper guidelines. Its use in standards allowed papers with no postconsumer content, even made with mill scraps only, to be called "recycled." EPA eliminated standards using wastepaper percentages in its May 1996 revised paper guidelines, but retained the term as the underlying basis for its definition of "recovered fiber."

CHLORINE FREE DEFINITIONS

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TERM

DEFINITION and TIPS

17

PROCESSED CHLORINE FREE (PCF)

This is as good as it gets. Go straight to heaven, do not pass GO.

18

TOTALLY CHLORINE FREE (TCF)

It is important to create a market for TCF papers to convince the industry to skip ECF (see below) and go directly to TCF.

19

ELEMENTAL CHLORINE FREE (ECF)

Although considerably less harmful than using chlorine, ECF is still considerably worse than TCF. There is also some indication that ECF processes may release more elemental chlorine than originally expected. Many mills are switching to ECF as a way of avoiding the upgrades for TCF. But ECF is only a half-step on the way to less toxic bleaching. We recommend using postconsumer content recycled paper over an ECF paper.

20

CHLORINE FREE PRODUCT

Any product produced without the use of chlorine chemistries, including elemental chlorine gas, chlorine compounds and chlorine derivatives.

TREE FREE DEFINITIONS

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TERM

DEFINITION and TIPS

21

TREE FREE PRODUCTS

Products made from agricultural residue (22) or agricultural fibers (23).

22

AGRICULTURAL RESIDUE

Usable materials recovered primarily from annual crops as byproducts of food and fiber production.

23

AGRICULTURAL FIBERS

Fibers harvested from non-wood plants that are grown intentionally for tree free paper or other fiber products.

SUSTAINABLE FORESTRY DEFINITIONS

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TERM

DEFINITION and TIPS

24

ANCIENT TIMBER OLD GROWTH FIBER FREE

Products in which no content is from old growth forests (25).

25

OLD GROWTH FOREST

Old Growth Forests have the following characteristics: a) they are largely naturally regenerated, b) less than 30% of the stand/forest area has been logged or cleared within the past century, c) they are relatively undisturbed such that human activities have not significantly altered native forest structure, composition or function, d) they are dominated by native tree species, e) they are relatively unmanaged although they may suffer from a history of fire suppression or grazing, and f) they are composed of individual or stands of trees of varying ages, with old growth components constituting at least half of the stand or forest unit, and having at least four trees per acre over 150 years of age.

SOURCE REDUCTION DEFINITIONS

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TERM

DEFINITION and TIPS

26

SOURCE REDUCTION PRODUCT

A product that results in a net reduction in the generation of waste compared to the previous or alternate version and includes durable, reusable and remanufactured products; products with no, or reduced, toxic constituents; and products marketed with no, or reduced, packaging.

27

REUSED PRODUCT

Any product designed to be used many times for the same or other purposes without additional processing except for specific requirements such as cleaning, painting or minor repairs.

28

REMANUFACTURED PRODUCT

Any product diverted from the supply of discarded materials by refurbishing and marketing said product without substantial change to its original form.