Paper Products

The majority of the raw fiber to generate paper products is harvested from a few key areas in the world, which creates additional pressures on forests in those areas and results in local resource concerns. The paper bleaching process can also cause the formation of dioxins, which can cause specific health concerns and may particularly affect the users of feminine hygiene products. Although paper products are used throughout the world, companies in the United States, Sweden, Finland, and Japan dominate the world paper products supply. The United States is the largest consumer of paper in the world, although the raw materials for these products come from the world's forests.

The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations tracks global forest supply and demand and issues a report every other year detailing the state of the world's forests. According to the FAO, pulp and paper products utilize about 12 percent of the world's harvested wood. Availability of harvested wood is a concern due to diminishing supplies and the increasing global population.

The United States is the largest consumer of paper in the world, and the raw materials for these products come from forests around the world. Here, a stack of lumber sits outside a paper mill.

The FAO reported that the world's forested area was reduced by 3 percent from 1990 to 2005, but the rate of deforestation has decreased in recent years. The world's forests lost 0.22 percent annually during 1990 to 2000, and the rate of annual loss slowed to 0.18 percent in 2000–2005. However, loss of resources is not uniform across the globe:

• Africa experienced the world's largest annual forest losses of 0.64 percent in the period 1990–2000 and 0.62 percent in 2000–2005. Africa's main wood product output is industrial round wood, not pulp and paper.
• Latin America and the Caribbean experienced annual forest losses of 0.46 percent in 1990–2000 and 0.51 percent in 2000–2005. Although this region did experience less loss than Africa, it showed a trend of increasing deforestation. Additionally, this region consumes more paper products than it produces.
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• Asia experienced lower annual forest losses of 0.17 percent in 1990–2000 and 0.09 percent in 2000–2005. Almost three-fourths of the wood harvested in Asia is burned as fuel, and Asia is a net importer of paper products.
• Europe experienced even lower annual forest losses of 0.09 percent in 1990–2000 and 0.07 percent in 2000–2005, although these rates vary across Europe and are much higher in western Europe. As one of the greater paper-producing areas, Europe is a net exporter of paper and paper products.
• North America was reported by FAO as experiencing the lowest annual forest losses of 0 percent in 1990–2000 and 0.01 percent from 2000–2005. However, data from Canada, where most of North America's forest resources exist, was not complete, and it was assumed that no change occurred in forest stock from 1990 to 2005. This assumption most surely skewed the reported results. But the United States had no loss of forests, and instead experienced annual forest gains of 0.12 percent in 1990–2000 and 0.05 percent in 2000–2005. Mexico reported comparatively high forest losses of 0.52 percent annually in 1990–2000 and 0.40 percent annually in 2000–2005. Overall, North America produces more paper products than it consumes.

Due to the varying rates of forest depletion, the impact of wood harvesting has differing regional effects. In addition to the environmental effects of deforestation, the paper-making process has certain effects, and its production of dioxin has been of particular concern.

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