Sometimes, the mere perception of somethings makes us, and everyone around us think that something is true. Earlier this week, The Wall Street Journal’s Sarah Nassauer had an article titled “To Scream Green, Firms Switch to Light Brown,” which explained some of the differences (and some of the misnomers) about “brown” paper products.
Knowing that everyday my Corporate Essentials sales team fields questions from both customers and prospective customers about sustainable products, I really felt the need to share some parts of Sarah’s article, while also including my own take on the topic.
It seems like many manufacturers and retail food establishments are moving away from the more common white napkins and other paper disposables to products that are different shades of brown. The basic premise for this is that it is perceived to be greener and we know everyone wants to or should want to go green. The questions of course are these “brown” products any more green than the white products they are replacing and of course what is the cost difference.
Based on the fact that many well-known national chain retailers have changed over to these brown disposables you would think that the answers to both questions I posed would have to be an obvious “yes.” As we all know things are not always a simple yes, or what you might expect.
People assume that brown paper products are better for the environment because they are made from recycled materials and that white paper products are not. The technology today actually allows white paper products to be made from 100% recycled fibers so that is a misconception. In the past the process to make white paper disposable “white” did involve using the potentially environmentally harmful chemical chlorine but in fact that process is no longer necessarily used as there are newer safe methods that can achieve similar whitening. These processes that are considered safer use hydrogen peroxide, oxygen or ozone. One of the industry’s largest producers of paper goods Cascades Tissue group does claim that dropping the extra step of beaching reduces the environmental impact of their Moka brand toilet paper by about 25% because of energy savings and other positive benefits. One last point about a misconception of the whitening process and recycled paper is that the slightly rougher feel is caused not if fact by the whiten process but by the fact that recycled paper comes from shorter and or comes from different sources than paper made from virgin or new fibers from tress which is naturally softer.
The largest manufactures of paper for households only market these brown products to businesses not homes but the market demand in homes is rapidly growing so I’m sure this will change. The product that might take a little more education even over time is toilet paper. It seems we are especially fond of extra soft paper when it comes to our tush and just need to touch and feel before we buy!
To summarize it will be the businesses who are leading the brown change here. I think the value in a supplier here is that they have not only the options but also the patience and caring to help clients navigate through all the facts and bring valuable cost effective green sustainable solutions to its customers.
This post was written by Judson Kleinman, President of Corporate Essentials, a Fairfield, New Jersey-based office coffee service.
