There are many sustainability issues that are relevant today. This page will focus on a particular topic every month.

May's topic: TerraSkin paper

I'm fascinated by this technology. It's been developed by a New York company called Design & Source Productions. It applies the principle of Cradle-to-Cradle and throughout its life cycle, it has little negative impact on the environment. In terms of raw materials, it uses no trees and instead, the paper is a combination of large amounts of mineral powder (>75%) with a small quantity (<25%) of non-toxic resin. In the production process, there is no need to use water for processing, and instead, a high temperature is used to melt and dissolve the ingredients. During the printing process, the ink dries faster, hence less need for chemicals so 20%-30% less ink is used. Since its tensile and tearing strength ratio is 1:1-2:1, the paper is water-resistant so no lamination or coatings are required, and those are also detrimental to the environment. At the end of its life cycle, the paper will either disintegrate within 3-9 months back into mineral powder, or can be safely incinerated (since the resins will not emit smoke or poisonous gas by-products), or recycled. With all these environmental benefits, the company is now trying to figure out a good way to make the distribution to printing houses, since you can only buy reams of paper directly from the manufacturer.

Resources:

www.terraskin.com
www.chameleonpackaging.com

Previous Green Thoughts:

Green Thoughts April 2006

Green Thoughts March 2006

Green Thoughts February 2006

Green Thoughts January 2006

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