Costa Rica Natural Paper, one of the oldest producers in Latin America, is taking banana and cigar waste and mixing it with recycled fibers to make unique grades of fiber finished text and cover grades. The company has opened up two offices and is selling direct, primarily to retailers. Today and Tomorrow It is hard to estimate the exact tonnage of alterative papers currently consumed in the North American commercial printing industry. Around 200,000 tons of cotton pulp used for paper. Very little bamboo pulp is imported.
Mexican imports are very low.
Coated alternative paper consumption is virtually non-existent, though products are also springing up. A company called Unicorp is marketing coated freesheet made with bamboo fiber. ReThink Paper, an organization inside EarthIsland Institute, has determined that a considerable amount of wood pulp could be replaced with alternative fibers. The group claims that the reduction in rainforests and over cutting of the world's trees is causing environmental change which will lead to climatic catastrophe. ReThink Paper's mission is praiseworthy, but its goals are far too lofty and reasoning somewhat flawed.