Paper Tales

My brand new Canon MF4270 laser printer all-in-one.

Between grant proposals, budgets and scripts, we print a lot here at Future Weather Productions. My search for a "green" copy shop in Philly - one that would use 100% PCR paper - proved fruitless. Plus I was tired of paying $8 every time I needed to print my script. So I did a little research on CNET and PCMag and found the Canon ImageClass. It only prints in black & white, but for the script-and-schedule-centric production office, that's just fine. My favorite qualities:

• It has a built-in duplexer! (that means it prints double-sided and cuts your paper use in half)
• It has a copier, scanner, and fax.
• It's got the energy star, so it goes to sleep when not in use.
• It's small and light, so it can fit in my Ikea shelves. And we can take it on the road when it's time for production.
• It's cut my costs down to $1.60 per script ($.02/pg ink cost and just about $.01/pg paper cost)
• It has a built-in networker, so all the 'puters in the office can print wirelessly.
  
• All for $250 (with rebate) from Staples.
  

I must note, however, that it is not completely Mac-compatible. You have to download the printer driver for Macs from the Canon website. And it will only scan to PCs. I'm also not sure yet if Macs can connect wirelessly. Our wireless router is on another level, so we've been using the USB port.

I also finally found a 100% PCR academic calendar from the mom & daughter company Mixed Role Productions in Eugene, Oregon. So now we be jammin on 100% PCR paper 24/7, baby. Up in the home office, yo.

Recycling FAQs

Answers for the Clueless to the Neurotic and everyone in-between.
Don't be a schmykel. Please recycle.

Can I recycle windowed envelopes?
Yep! All non-natural fibers and metals make their way out when the paper’s turned into pulp in the recycling process.


Can I recycle post-it notes?
Yessiree - as long as your recycler takes mixed-paper. Contrary to public opinion, most post-its are 99% paper, so not only do they recycle easily, they also don’t gum up the machines, a criticism often lobbed at them.


Should I recycle my pizza box?
Thanks, but no. "Food and grease-tainted paper is not desirable to have in pulping systems that recycle recovered paper."


Can you recycle plastic-coated paper cups?
No, unfortunately, there is no recyclable value. The same goes for wax-coated. While Styrofoam takes less energy to produce, it does not degrade, which is something paper has to its advantage.

The problem is using paper cups to begin with. Very few of them come from recycled paper, and Americans are projected to increase our consumption of them from 17 billion to 23 billion by 2010. If those #s don't scare you into bringing your own mug, read this.


Why can’t you recycle all plastics in Philly?
The official answer is that there isn’t enough demand to break down the plastic content in #s 3-7, because you can only garner a certain amount of reusable materials. However, according to some sources, a city will increase its plastic recycling count if it accept all numbers. Something worth bringing up at the next city council meeting. Philadelphia also has both single-stream (everything in one bucket) and dual-stream (separate your papers and cans, no plastics) recycling, but this summer will condense to single-stream. (Ahh, much better.) Learn more about Philadelphia's recycling program from this comprehensive City Paper Guide.


So if I can't recycle plastic #s 3-7 with the city, where can I recycle them?
Recycling Services, a mecca for plastics and other materials your city won't take. Located in Pottstown, PA, it's only a 45 minute drive from Philly. So save up all of your odds and ends (their list of accepted materials is exhaustive and specific, so please check it out) and make a trip once a year. It's worth it to see Jim Crater's amazing place and wandering peacock.

Meanwhile, make sure you separate your #1s and #2s for city recycling. Even a small amount of the wrong type of plastic can ruin a recycling melt. Because a lot of people don't take time to separate it, much plastic collected for recycling is actually landfilled when it could go to larger recycling centers like the one in Pottstown.


Can you recycle the caps on plastic bottles?
Yes, but not through most municipal recycling programs. They're made from a different type of plastic resin and can contaminate the other plastics. I did a search for "plastic bottle tops" and pulled up three straight pages of ways to turn them into fishing lures. Is anything NOT a craft project?! Luckily, Recycling Services will take them (see above).


Egads! There's plastic everywhere! What about baggies, cling wrap and bread bags??
Some of this falls into plastic type #2. Please refer to this chart at plasticbagrecycling.org to see the breakout and click on your location to see specifically what your city will take.


We're setting up our production office on location, and I'm not familiar with the recycling services there...
We'll be covering production waste in more detail soon, but if you're in a jam, try this handy 1-2-3 from the National Recycling Coalition.


I'm auditioning for America's Next Top Recycler, I'm burning to know more!
Here's a quick, helpful guide for when you're in doubt!

An Ode to Turning Off the Computer

For me, writing and reading will always reside in the material world, not the digital one. I once had a creative writing teacher who said a writer must get in physical shape, train actual muscles to be the medium for ideas that can course quickly (or stutter pathetically) onto the page.

And then there's the page itself, that beautiful landscape, blank or cluttered, receptive or unyielding, infinite with potential, but finite in dimension. Always an artifact of intimacy. This physical page is a much better vessel for the wandering brain - a place to sketch, not linearly plot a course by the flash of a blinking cursor.

Don't get me wrong, the computer is a godsend for writers (spell-checks, revisions, archiving, copying & pasting), not to mention anyone interested in blogging or self-promotion. Believe me, Future Weather has not come this far with a fountain pen by candlelight.

But it's positively nerve-wracking to sit at the computer for the thirteenth hour of the day reading from the densely-packed electric light of an LCD monitor that threatens to pull your neck and eye muscles taut as a slingshot. And it's so delicious to turn it off, pick up your pen and take a meandering scratch across the pages of a notebook, datebook, calendar, post-it note, napkin or newspaper margin; or open a book, the act of turning pages a rhythmic literature in and of itself; or, one of life's sweetest pleasures, cross something off your list.

For some brains, there must be an aspect of reading comprehension that correlates to spatial perception, because I find a paper edit far more productive than editing from whatever word processor I'm using. I also find that the older I get, structural thinking and complex organization is much easier when working from a physical page as opposed to a virtual one.

None of this, however, is in any way meant to justify an unchecked use of paper. But as Kemper suggests, though writers and readers should find more ways to reduce their use of paper (and insist on using 100% post-consumer recycled paper when they do use it), we will not be able to give up pen and paper entirely. Unless we're forced to return to the caves.

Conservatree

The most comprehensive description of paper products and industry practices we've found. If thou wilt have paper, even toilet paper, get thee there: conservatree.org

Watch Conservatree bust a few office paper myths:

What is "Pre-Consumer Waste"?

World Centric, a non-profit organization that facilitates community education to "reduce economic injustice and environmental degradation", also has an online Fair Trade/Eco Store with excellent explanations of material content and origin for each class of product.

Their definition of pre-consumer waste is "paper made out of paper scraps and trimmings left over from the paper manufacturing process". In other words, even though it has been recycled, trees were newly cut down to obtain this material.

A startling fact World Centric mentions is that paper makes up 40% of total waste because it is not recycled. By purchasing 100% post-consumer recycled paper, we are creating a demand for paper that would normally end up in a landfill, and no trees are cut down to make it.

So watch your percentages when purchasing paper. 100% recycled can be misleading if only 30% of it is post-consumer.

A Writer's Dependence On Paper

As a writer, the one thing that’s problematic for me is that I really, really dislike taking notes on a computer. Constantly, I carry around a bag that contains at least two notebooks and enough pens to bathe a small puppy in ink. The pockets of my messenger bag are filled with index cards that I can quickly access if a thought hits me and I need to write it down ASAP. Draft upon draft of note-ridden screenplays lay in a pile on the floor by my bed. So when decreasing paper use comes up in discussing how to make our production more sustainable, I feel like a hypocrite.

I’m trying though. Lately, I’ve been editing pieces on my computer, something I’ve rarely done. I end up skimming more than I do when it’s on a piece of paper, and the pull of the internet is much stronger than I want to admit. But it’s a skill that I need to further develop, as technology won’t be waiting for me to catch up. And if I need to, I can always print out pages on the back of ones I’ve already used, a trick that I’ve picked up from Jenny.

I’ve also started reusing a lot of my older notebooks. Most of them are barely filled, wholly dedicated to projects that never made it farther than ten pages in said books. I have seven of these. Instead of carrying two or three books, each with a title referring to my musings, I’ve condensed it to one, a title and date written at the top of each page to jog my memory when I need it.

The note cards aren’t going anywhere for now, though. My greatest ideas have always started on a scrap of paper. As I write this, 2000 index cards are stacked on the corner of my desk waiting to be tacked onto a corkboard to map out characters and plotlines. Doing anything but using these up would be environmentally irresponsible. When they dwindle down though, I’m going to try my best to find responsible substitutes, whether it be the backs of outdated business cards, electronic "notecards" or recycled ones.

It might take me longer to edit, and I may have to spend more time in front of the computer. But these are things I know in the long run will not only be a positive for the environment, but also for improving my writing process. Sometimes, you gotta see the forest for the trees.