The Forest Product Industries are potentially among the most sustainable and valued industry sectors, providing a broad myriad of products. Products include fibers for textiles and tissue and towel consumer products, such as diapers, chemicals useful in many applications, as well as the vastly important paper, paperboard, timber and fuel that humans have depended on for millennia . Forests are critical ecosystems that sustain much of natures biodiversity, provide recreation and joy, and are the most important natural consumer of atmospheric CO2. Preservation and extension of forest biomass is a critical factor in controlling global warming. In many regions forest biomass growth actually exceeds forestry industry use. In some key regions, such as in much of the world's rain forests, deforestation is accelerating, though generally not because of the activities of the Forest Products Industries. This section will explore the impacts and potential for Responsible Sustainability of the Forest Products Industries, as well as some of the many other factors impacting deforestation and forest ecosystems.
Forest Products Industries - Facts, Figures, impacts, potential
In the United States, the forest products industry:
- Employs 950,000 workers and pays approximately $4.4 billion a year in state and local taxes
- Generates 4% of U.S. manufacturing GDP, on par with plastics and automotive
- Is the leading generator and user of renewable energy
- Recovered 67.2% of paper consumed in 2016
- The industry meets a payroll of approximately $50 billion annually and is among the top 10 manufacturing sector employers in 45 states.
Deforestation/Reforestation
- Deforestation has been a part of the human experience since ancient times. It is estimated that 90% of the original North American forest has been lost, mostly to farmland and secondary growth. Today, however, most North American and European countries are areas of net forest growth. About 31% of Earth's land surface remains covered by forests in various states of health
- According to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), the overwhelming direct cause of deforestation in modern times has been agriculture. More recently industrial activities, including extractive industries, large-scale cattle ranching, and extensive corporate agriculture, have driven deforestation in many locations. Ever more intense wildfires are also an increasing factor. Since 2001, commodity-driven deforestation, which is more likely to be permanent, has accounted for about a quarter of all forest disturbance, and this loss has been concentrated in South America, and Southeast Asia.
- In 2019, it is estimated that the world lost nearly 12 million hectares of tree cover. Nearly a third of that loss, 3.8 million hectares, occurred within humid tropical primary forests, areas of mature rainforest that are especially important for biodiversity and carbon storage
- Major forest products industry players generally now support certification efforts that require that wood can only be harvested from forests managed to meet specific criteria, to insure healthy and environmentally stable forests, though not always original ecosystem compliant, as in the case of plantation forests.
- Certified forests represent about 11% of all worldwide forest area, with most of the certified forest being in the northern hemisphere.
- Old Growth protection and forest protection in general still remains of critical concern on a worldwide basis, with overall outcomes still subject to often unchecked profit and population pressures
ARS research Highlights - Forest Industries and Responsible Sustainability
- Enhanced Recycling of Plastic Coated Paperboards - ARS is developing a Call for Proposals for improved understanding and development of materials and processes to increase recycling of single use plastic coated paperboards. See link provided for details. Status: Being Drafted by ARS.
ARS Policy Developments/Highlights - Forest Industries and Responsible Sustainability
- Enhanced Recycling of Plastic Coated Paperboards - ARS is working toward better systems for recycling of single use paper products to encourage the circular economy of their use. Programs for better understanding and education regarding recycling at point of use, systems for collection, and systems for recycling all will be aspects of this effort. See link provided for details. Status: Being Drafted by ARS.
Features and Opinions - Invited and Submitted Discussions
Features/Opinions - this section will provide a forum and will change from time to time. Submit comments or a Feature article for potential posting on the ARS Features page.
Replacement of single use plastics can it arrive – can paper and paperboard answer the challenge?
A Brief Observation - The year 2020 began with high expectations for the beginning of the consumer transition away from single use plastics. Plastic straws, single use grocery bags, and single serving containers, all were facing replacement through legislation, as well as intensified research searching for alternatives.
Then along came Covid. Focusin on the example of plastic grocery bags, the scheduled transitions to cloth or paper bags was generally postponed throughout the Covid year, in deference to the safe and familiar incumbent plastic bags. As better understanding of Covid transmission developed, transitions once again began, though not without lingering Covid issues. As an example, in some grocery establishments the transition to paper and cloth bags was short lived, with concerns about virus transmission or simple inconvenience, driving the change back toward other forms of plastic. In some cases conversion to much thicker, supposedly recyclable plastic bags, has become the defacto alternative. This is despite the reality that almost none of these new heavy duty bags are being reused or recycled, so they will be eventually released to the environment, and then will provide 5-10 times more plastic for eventual degradation than the original bags. This seems to be, at least in the short term, an outcome exactly opposite the intent.
So how did we get here? In the past decade, public awareness of the undeniable negative environmental impact of plastics has blossomed. Environmental travesties, such as the great Pacific Ocean plastic trash gyre, rampant plastic trash on the highways and beaches, and heavy metal air pollution associated with efforts to collect and convert plastic trash to energy, all have added to public concerns over plastic. The huge impact of microplastics on wildlife depletion in various ecosystems is only just starting to be understood. Legislation and awareness programs that are aimed at reducing the use plastics are advancing with various degrees of acceptance.
While focus on plastics is changing, the problem is still growing, due to the vast penetration of single use plastics into daily life, especially in highly developed countries, but also now in developing economies. Factors such as personal convenience, as well as the extensive use of disposable packaging to manage consumer safety, make plastic replacement a very complex issue. The many and diverse types of single use plastics in use make collection and recycling very challenging. The extent of the problem is easily illustrated through hard to comprehend numbers, such as 335 million metric tons of plastic consumed in 2016 worldwide, 50 billion plastic beverage bottles annually in the US, and 4 trillion plastic bags used worldwide, with only about 1% recycled (1). And, the very troubling and often referred to “almost all plastic trash that ever existed, still exists in some form”, haunts those familiar with these concerns.
So, while the plastics threat is being better defined, and solutions are becoming more widely accepted, the problem persists and still grows nearly exponentially. Solutions remain difficult and controversial, as most of the public still chooses convenience and utility, which may be difficult to build into alternative products.
Alternatives to single use plastics may arise from changes in habit or method, such as using refillable water bottles, or through engineered products providing similar function and performance. Among the later options paper products, and especially polymer coated paper products, probably offer the most opportunity. In addition to alternative products, better systems for collection and recycle of both plastics and alternatives also have promise, if combined with effective consumer education.
The two approaches, the development of new paper product alternatives to single use plastics, and the evolution of effective systems for collecting and recycling such products, frame the initial program and research proposals under development by Advocates for Responsible Sustainability. Advocates can lead in this effort by helping to develop and support these proposals, but also by leading everyday through example and advocacy. While seemingly a small impact on an individual scale, any dent into 355 million metric tons of environmentally degrading plastic is a start, a need, and a challenge worth accepting. Lets step forward and Advocate by example.
A Brief Observation - The year 2020 began with high expectations for the beginning of the consumer transition away from single use plastics. Plastic straws, single use grocery bags, and single serving containers, all were facing replacement through legislation, as well as intensified research searching for alternatives.
Then along came Covid. Focusin on the example of plastic grocery bags, the scheduled transitions to cloth or paper bags was generally postponed throughout the Covid year, in deference to the safe and familiar incumbent plastic bags. As better understanding of Covid transmission developed, transitions once again began, though not without lingering Covid issues. As an example, in some grocery establishments the transition to paper and cloth bags was short lived, with concerns about virus transmission or simple inconvenience, driving the change back toward other forms of plastic. In some cases conversion to much thicker, supposedly recyclable plastic bags, has become the defacto alternative. This is despite the reality that almost none of these new heavy duty bags are being reused or recycled, so they will be eventually released to the environment, and then will provide 5-10 times more plastic for eventual degradation than the original bags. This seems to be, at least in the short term, an outcome exactly opposite the intent.
So how did we get here? In the past decade, public awareness of the undeniable negative environmental impact of plastics has blossomed. Environmental travesties, such as the great Pacific Ocean plastic trash gyre, rampant plastic trash on the highways and beaches, and heavy metal air pollution associated with efforts to collect and convert plastic trash to energy, all have added to public concerns over plastic. The huge impact of microplastics on wildlife depletion in various ecosystems is only just starting to be understood. Legislation and awareness programs that are aimed at reducing the use plastics are advancing with various degrees of acceptance.
While focus on plastics is changing, the problem is still growing, due to the vast penetration of single use plastics into daily life, especially in highly developed countries, but also now in developing economies. Factors such as personal convenience, as well as the extensive use of disposable packaging to manage consumer safety, make plastic replacement a very complex issue. The many and diverse types of single use plastics in use make collection and recycling very challenging. The extent of the problem is easily illustrated through hard to comprehend numbers, such as 335 million metric tons of plastic consumed in 2016 worldwide, 50 billion plastic beverage bottles annually in the US, and 4 trillion plastic bags used worldwide, with only about 1% recycled (1). And, the very troubling and often referred to “almost all plastic trash that ever existed, still exists in some form”, haunts those familiar with these concerns.
So, while the plastics threat is being better defined, and solutions are becoming more widely accepted, the problem persists and still grows nearly exponentially. Solutions remain difficult and controversial, as most of the public still chooses convenience and utility, which may be difficult to build into alternative products.
Alternatives to single use plastics may arise from changes in habit or method, such as using refillable water bottles, or through engineered products providing similar function and performance. Among the later options paper products, and especially polymer coated paper products, probably offer the most opportunity. In addition to alternative products, better systems for collection and recycle of both plastics and alternatives also have promise, if combined with effective consumer education.
The two approaches, the development of new paper product alternatives to single use plastics, and the evolution of effective systems for collecting and recycling such products, frame the initial program and research proposals under development by Advocates for Responsible Sustainability. Advocates can lead in this effort by helping to develop and support these proposals, but also by leading everyday through example and advocacy. While seemingly a small impact on an individual scale, any dent into 355 million metric tons of environmentally degrading plastic is a start, a need, and a challenge worth accepting. Lets step forward and Advocate by example.
