Paper products are all around us in day to day life. From writing an essay in class to drying your hands after you wash them, paper is everywhere.

Paper is a very important industry and is arguably sustainable!  Most byproducts in paper production are reused and/or recycled. In most paper plants, when they wash the logs to pulp the wood they filter the water and use it for the next batch of wood until they can’t filter it anymore. 

Lots of the time, paper products are produced next to major waterways so they have access to a huge amount of water. It also allows them to quickly dispose of their industrial wastewater. This can lead to issues in the surrounding environment and cities. Wastewater hurts the plants and animals nearby, by exposing them to different diseases and infections. This also causes issues for areas where citizens use local water.

Sustainability is a huge controversy when it comes to paper products. Paper is easily recyclable because of the nature of the production of the product. However, paper production takes a lot of energy and a lot of water to make. With paper pulp being 90% water, there are a lot of issues with sustainability. Some companies are trying to reduce their carbon footprint from paper production by planting 2 trees for every 1 they cut down, but at a certain point it’s nullified by other unsustainable products.

Paper products are a neutral product in the terms of it not being super good or super bad. Lots of paper companies reuse and recycle their products, but that doesn’t stop the fact of CO2 and energy consumption skyrocketing. For every good thing about a paper product, there are equal or worse things that also happen. Paper companies use so much water and cause so much harm to the environment that it's hard to see the good things associated with paper as nothing more than coincidences. It also doesn’t help that paper is something everyone needs in one form or another. This just contributes to the environmental harm, while not giving people options to not contribute.

The biggest negative impact of paper production is the hyperconsumption of water and CO2 emissions. These are 2 of the biggest problems from paper because fresh water will run out and CO2 emissions have their own spiral of problems that they cause. Paper production is a huge producer of CO2 and greenhouse gasses which cause things like rising temperature and lower ice levels.

Sustainability for paper is something hard to achieve with how it's currently made. However, there are some ways that we can continue our normal lives while not contributing to the problems of paper products.  There should be more of a focus on reusing and recycling rather than more production. Cleaning and repulping soiled paper would lower the amount of deforestation and CO2 production into the atmosphere. I think that some products do need to be made from fresh paper, but paper should be recycled as much as possible. Recycling paper products when able to and being more conscious about paper consumption should be a priority. Companies should especially try to reuse their resources so they don’t have to produce as much waste as they currently are. There should also be more of a focus on using the minimum amount of harmful byproducts, such as wastewater.

 I think that the only feasible way for sustainability to be achieved is to start making different products the norm in homes and offices. For our society to work, some of us NEED paper products but I think that reusing paper and having sustainable options for our everyday needs should be at the forefront of our minds. Based on every major change in society, I think that for a big change to happen the sustainable products have to be marketed to as many people as possible and also be an alternative for the same price.