Paper Charm

You might remember that I became quite concerned about the fact that wrapping paper is not, in the most part, recyclable and I fretted and found some ideas for environmentally friendly gift wrapping. I have been trying to reconcile my love of paper with various environmental questions. Today I was researching responsible paper purchasing, trying to get my head around the various types of paper recycling terms and I came across the World Wildlife Federation’s Check Your Paper site (it is really good) but I noticed that some of their downloads are sponsored by Ikea. Quick as a flash I found the paper shop on the Ikea website and to positive squeals of delight I discovered that Ikea’s paper is in fact unbleached, made from renewable sources and recyclable. They also said they can be used for energy recovery if available in your country. This was another new term for me, so I googled that and yes it is available in Ireland.

I am still putting everything I have learned together so I won’t start giving a definitive account of A-Z of responsible paper production just yet. But I have been learning about post consumer recycled fibre, the importance of FSC certification (Forest Stewardship Council) to ensure sustainable forests and the damage that bleaching paper can do to the environment. I’m beginning to realise that responsible paper production means taking into consideration the impact of the process of paper making as well as the effect on primary resources like trees.

I’m a huge fan of Ikea but sometimes its cheapness bothers me, in that I wonder how they manage it without damaging the environment or taking advantage of workers. Ikea is hugely popular though, with 1 in 10 European babies thought to be conceived in an Ikea bed! The sheer amount of paper they use from catalogues, to boxes to till receipts must be phenomenal. A company of that size could leave an enormous nasty ecological footprint if it were not careful.

This is what the WWF had to say just in relation to the Ikea catalogue.

“IKEA has a wide environmental perspective and one of the key areas is climate change, identified as a significant factor during the production of the IKEA catalogue. 170 million copies of the catalogue are printed yearly and distributed in over 30 countries. IKEA collects data from all suppliers involved in the production of the catalogue, from the forest source for the raw materials through to the binding. The data includes the use of fossil energy, transport work and the mode of conveyance. IKEA can measure both their overall and individual catalogue CO2 emissions. Due to the change of some suppliers, there has been a 32% decrease in CO2 emissions counted as per catalogue and a 17% reduction in absolute terms whilst the production of catalogues has increased by 26% over the last few years.”  (The WWF Guide to Buying Paper)

The truth is that we should be buying less, consuming less and up cycling more but there are decisions we can make in this consumer driven world about what to buy, where to buy, who to buy from that can make a difference to equality or the environment and it might just give us the power to change capitalism one purchase at a time.

To learn more about Ikea’s Corporate Social Responsibility ( CSR) go to

:http://www.ikea.com/ms/en_JP/customer_service/faq/help/about_ikea/social_environment.html

My beautiful counter-top compost bin has been languishing in my back garden for several months now because I didn't have the time to deal with the bin juice, smell and good cleaning it needed. While I do put a lot of our food waste straight into our outdoor compost bin, I frequently sucumb to laziness and dump it in our regular bin. So I was delighted when I came across Obeo in the supermarket recently.

These beautifully designed, recycled paper boxes are are fully compostable. They are the brainchild of two Irish women and really tick all the boxes for me. I love the wholesome yet modern design and really like their website too, where they have great tips for avoiding food waste as well as links to other environmental websites from Ireland and abroad. 

The best thing about Obeo is that it works for me. No smells, no bin juice and I am actually using it!