People in Alberton now have the direct experience of the indirect impacts of paper use. It could happen anywhere. Let's look at the issues of bleaching, recycling, alternative fibers and pollution reduction. I will propose some viable solutions that can reduce your environmental impact of using paper. Paper Is Not All Paper Papermaking is a dirty business.
Paper mills are among the most polluting of industries.
The paper industry is the greatest energy consumer in our country. The U.S. paper industry's reliance on chlorine-intensive bleaching places this industry as the worst water polluter in the world. Although the recycling of waste paper requires less of all these, the chemicals used and subsequent waste produced varies greatly. Pulp mills discharge around 35 tons of toxic organochlorides each day. One toxic byproduct is dioxin, a type of organochloride which results from the combination of chlorine and other substances.