Bamboo Paper: Not Forest-Friendly
by Aaron G. Lehmer
ReThink Paper
As public interest in "tree-free" paper has grown, certain companies within
the pulp and paper industry have seized upon tropical bamboo as a "green"
alternative to virgin wood fiber. But industrial use of tropical bamboo,
combined with an escalating global paper demand, threatens what remains
of the world's last intact bamboo forests.
In 1996, several domestic paper makers - Fox River, Lyons Falls and
Unicorp-Phoenix - began importing plantation-grown bamboo from
Thailand's Phoenix Pulp & Paper Co. Soon thereafter, several bamboo
papers became widely available, the most prominent of which were Fox
River's Rubicon and Unicorp-Phoenix's Impressions line of coated sheets.
In 1997, ReThink Paper issued a public alert urging consumers to avoid
purchasing these papers after learning that the Phoenix operation had
displaced local people, disturbed native ecosystems and was seriously
polluting the surrounding watershed [Fall '97 EIJ]. More fundamentally, the
concept of shipping pulp half-way across the globe - particularly from
ecologically sensitive regions like Southeast Asia - was not environmentally
sound.
Following RTP's critique, Lyons Falls stopped purchasing bamboo pulp,
citing market volatility as the basis for its decision. At a meeting of the
the Advertising Print Production Association in April, 1997,
representatives of Fox River Paper Co. publicly pledged to secure a
domestic source of nonwood pulp for its Rubicon line as soon as one
became available.
Some companies, however, continue to promote bamboo as a bona fide
environmental alternative to wood-based paper.
Around 30 companies with production volume ranges from 27,000 to
220,000 metric tons per year are listed in the 1998 International Pulp &
Paper Directory as major producers of bamboo pulp and paper. Since there
are no international standards, rules or certification mechanisms in place for
bamboo, neither paper producers nor consumers have any way of knowing
whether the bamboo they purchase is coming from endangered ecosystems.
Unlike agricultural fibers, bamboo grows naturally in some of the most
biologically diverse and threatened forests in Southeast Asia, South and
Central America, and the Caribbean. According to the World Wildlife Fund,
bamboo habitat in Asia "contains a great deal of biological diversity -
around a hundred mammal species, over 200 bird species, at least 20
reptiles, and at least 14 amphibians..."
Paper industry consultant Joseph Atchison estimates that global annual
bamboo pulp capacity is now around 1.46 million metric tons, nearly 80
percent of which is in China and India.
Dr. Karl Bareis, coordinator of the International Bamboo Association,
estimates that remaining available bamboo reserves in Asia are now around
4.8 million hectares (11.8 million acres). Were bamboo to become a high-
demand fiber in the global marketplace, these critical areas would surely
suffer.
In India, "bamboo is being extracted from at least 60-70 percent of
protected forests," says Bittu Sahgal, editor of Sanctuary Magazine. The
fragile Nagarjunasagar Tiger Reserve "suffers massive bamboo extraction
for paper mills," a process which Sahgal says poses a severe threat to this
internationally treasured animal.
An April 1998 article in Business Line happily noted that "the greatest
[remaining] untapped bamboo forests are in Myanmar (Burma)," and
lamented the fact that "presently only 20,000 tons of bamboo pulp are being
made there annually." Interest in bamboo for pulp and paper is also growing
in the Western Hemisphere, where a major US paper manufacturer has
reportedly begun hatching plans to exploit large natural reserves in the
Caribbean.
Bamboo-based paper perpetuates the wood-based paper status quo because
- unlike perennial agricultural fibers - it can be chipped in existing wood-
based mills. Existing pulp mills must replace their machinery to process
agricultural residues, hemp or kenaf, so the continued use of bamboo only
serves to discourage the conversion to nonwood paper technologies.
Meanwhile, more than 280 million tons of excess agricultural residues are
produced annually just waiting to be harnessed, according to Maureen
Smith author of The US Paper Industry: An Argument for Restructuring. In
California, a pioneering paper company called Arbokem is proposing to
collect and process rice straw residue from the state's Central Valley farmers
who face a phase-down of straw burning due to air pollution concerns.
In the Midwest, Heartland Fibers has secured funding for a 140,000
ton-per-year mill. that will transform corn stalk residue from area farmers into
chlorine-free, tree-free pulp. Heartland's $150 million Nebraska plant will
turn up to 1,400 dry tons of corn stover (corn plant stalks) into 400 tons of
paper pulp each day. Two dozen paper companies have judged corn stover
pulp is equal to or better than North American hardwood pulp. Because corn
stover pulp can be bleached without using chlorine, the plant will not pour
dioxins into the watershed. The plant should be operational by the end of
1999.
But consumers need not wait. There are around a dozen North American
pulp and paper manufacturers that produce nonwood-based papers
commercially (see list below), proving that paper need not come from forest
ecosystems of any type - bamboo or otherwise.
-- Aaron Lehmer is a research associate with ReThink Paper
ReThink Paper, an Earth Island project, is a non-profit network of
environmentalists, industry experts and concerned citizens dedicated to
developing a truly sustainable pulp and paper industry. To join RTP send a
check/money order for $25 ($15 student or senior) to ReThink Paper [RTP, Flood
Building, 870 Market Street, No. 1011, San Francisco, CA 94102, (415) 398-
2433, fax: -2635, rtpinfo@earthisland.org,
ReThink Paper Website].
ReThink Paper Publications
SOLUTION SERIES FIBER PROFILES
Kenaf, Hemp (also on our website)
ECOLOGICAL PAPER RESOURCE LISTS
Paper Locator by Brand, Grade, Fiber, and Processing Method
National Resource List of Office Printing & Writing Papers (also on our
website)
ORGANIZATIONAL/EDUCATIONAL MATERIALS
ReThinking Wood Briefing
7 Things Your Business/Organization Can Do to ReThink Paper
Activist Toolkit
Elementary Teacher Nonwood Paper Presentation Kit
National Forests: Protected or Pulped?
Bamboo Paper Consumer Advisory (also on our
website)
