Paper Trails: From Trees to Trash--The True Cost of Paper - Softcover

From the medical sheets in maternity wards to our death certificates, paper charts the course of our lives. Paradoxically, it spreads ideas and learning but also generates a huge amount of unnecessary waste that is damaging our planet.

Mandy Haggith explores our society’s obsession with paper, from its invention in China 2000 years ago to the millions of tons we now use every year. Following the paper trail around the world, Mandy discovers the human stories of those affected by the industry, from a Russian ecologist, a Finnish logger and Indonesian tribal leaders, to a Canadian publisher and a Vietnamese paper technologist.

In the process, she uncovers the paper industry’s dirtiest secrets and sets out simple, practical steps we can take to minimize our own personal use of 20 tons of paper over our lifetime.