Record-High Production Reported at Recycled Pulp Mills

San Francisco, CA – According to a new report by industry analysts, recycled paper mills are operating at a record high—nearly 90% of capacity. The report, issued by Resource Information Systems, Inc. (RISI), attributed the change to increased demand from the office supplies sector—an industry ForestEthics has transformed over the past five years.

“The RISI report states that the demand for recycled product is specifically being driven by such stores as Staples and Office Depot,” said Todd Paglia, Executive Director of ForestEthics. “ForestEthics led the campaign to transform these companies’ environmental policies and practices, and now these companies are transforming the face of the entire industry. This is the face of the new environmentalism.”

The report was issued on October 18, 2005, by Paperloop, which purchased RISI in 2000. It quotes RISI Senior Economist David Clapp as saying that the increased demand was due to stores such as Staples and Office Depot requiring suppliers to make them copy paper with up to 30% recycled content from post-consumer recovered paper.

Mr. Paglia said that the report offered concrete proof that ForestEthics has made a significant difference in the way the office supply industry does business. “We of course work with these companies closely and know they are changing their practices; however, this is the clearest indication that they are now having a market-wide impact, which is what we set out to do when we started the Paper Campaign in 2000,” he said.

Established in 1985, RISI is globally recognized as the premier source for independent economic analysis for the international forest products industry.

ForestEthics protects endangered forests by transforming the paper and wood industries in North America and by supporting forest communities in the development of conservation-based economies. The organization’s successful campaign against the office supply industry resulted in a groundbreaking environmental policy by Staples that protects endangered forests and increases the overall recycled content of its paper from less than 5% to over 30%. The campaign transformed the environmental practices of the leaders of the office supply industry.