Resources and Tools
Paper Calculator Documentation
Information on assumptions made and references used in the Paper Calculator
Paper Calculator Documentation [PDF]
Paper Task Force Report
The Paper Calculator is based upon an analytical model originally developed by the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) in concert with the Paper Task Force, a voluntary, private-sector initiative that included Time Inc, Prudential Insurance, Duke University, McDonald’s, and Johnson & Johnson. The Paper Task Force Report represented a comprehensive research effort assisted by hundreds of experts from diverse perspectives. The two-year information gathering included more than 50 visits to manufacturing, recycling and forestry sites, in excess of 400 research meetings and discussions, and approximately 200 sets of written comments received on the Task Force’s draft research. The Report created recommendations for purchasing environmentally preferable paper, and it is still today widely respected as a landmark multi-stakeholder collaboration, backed by science and executed with the highest-level of transparency. The Paper Calculator is based on the original research of the Paper Task Force Report, but the Calculator has undergone several revisions and updates to ensure that it reflects new data and advances in the understanding of the entire paper life-cycle. You can download the entire report, or view individual chapters and white papers associated with the Report by using the following links:
Paper Task Force Report: This is the complete report
A new way to buy paper [PDF]: The lifecycle approach to reducing the environmental impacts of paper use
Synopsis [PDF]: Recommendations for purchasing and using environmentally preferable paper
Table of contents [PDF]: Task Force members and acknowledgements
Chapter 1 [PDF]: Setting the Stage for Purchasing Environmentally Preferable Paper
Chapter 2 [PDF]: Source Reduction
Chapter 3 [PDF]: Buying and Recycling Recycled Paper
Chapter 3 update [PDF]: Figures 2, 6-9 (February 2002)
Chapter 4 [PDF]: Forest Management
Chapter 5 [PDF]: Pulp and Paper Manufacturing
Biographies [PDF]: Task Force members and a glossary
Paper Task Force white papers
Paper Performance
- No. 1 [PDF]: Functionality Requirements for Uncoated Business Papers and Effects of Incorporating Postconsumer Recycled Content
- No. 8 [PDF]: Functionality Requirements for Coated and Uncoated Publication Papers and Effects of Incorporating Postconsumer Recycled Content
- No. 6A [PDF]: Functionality Issues for Corrugated Packaging Associated with Recycled Content, Source Reduction and Recyclability
- No. 6B [PDF]: Functionality Issues for Folding Cartons Associated with Recycled Content, Source Reduction and Recyclability
Recycling and Used Paper Management
- No. 2 [PDF]: Economics of Recycling as an Alternative to Traditional Means of Waste Management
- No. 3 [PDF]: Lifecycle Environmental Comparison - Virgin Paper and Recycled Paper-Based Systems (Updated February 2002)
- No. 9 [PDF]: Economics of Manufacturing Virgin and Recycled-Content Paper
Forest Management
- No. 4 [PDF]: Environmental Issues Associated with Forest Management
- No. 11 [PDF]: Economic Considerations in Forest Management
- Glossary [PDF]: Terms for White Papers 4 and 11
Pulp and Paper Manufacturing
- No. 5 [PDF]: Environmental Comparison of Bleached Kraft Pulp Manufacturing Technologies
- No. 7 [PDF]: Economics of Kraft Pulping and Paper Bleaching
- No. 10A [PDF]: Environmental Comparison - Manufacturing Technologies for Virgin and Recycled-Content Printing and Writing Paper
- No. 10B [PDF]: Environmental Comparison - Manufacturing Technologies for Virgin and Recycled Corrugated Boxes
- No. 10C [PDF]: Environmental Comparison - Manufacturing Technologies for Virgin and Recycled Coated Paperboard for Folding Cartons
- No. 12 [PDF]: Comparison of Kraft, Sulfite and BCTMP Pulp and Paper Manufacturing Technologies
- Appendices [PDF]: White Papers 10A, 10B, 10C and 12
- No. 13 [PDF]: Nonwood Plant Fibers as Alternative Fiber Sources for Papermaking
