If you’re looking for a 100% post-consumer recycled paper for your home or office, follow the ‘What’s the Green Deal‘ signs to Gray’s Harbor 100. When you learn more about the company behind this paper, you may not want to buy anything else.
The green journey of Gray’s Harbor Paper really began in 1993, when local investors bought back the paper mill in Hoquiam Washington, in order to keep it from being permanently shut down. Led by third-generation local resident Bill Quigg and his family, they realized going ‘green’ was more than a feel-good plan. It was a survival strategy.
In order to cut their power costs, Quigg and his team converted their boilers to use wood waste (bio-mass) to power their operation without buying fuel oil or natural gas. Wood releases CO2 as it naturally biodegrades, so this power source is considered ‘carbon-neutral’ and allows Gray’s Harbor to sell additional fossil-fuel-free power to Puget Sound Energy.
On the people side of the ledger, this mill is equally progressive. A union-run company, Gray’s Harbor has created an employee-integrated culture, where self-directed teams of workers vote on work schedules, set quality standards and keep the plant running at full capacity with limited supervisory positions.
But back to the paper – Harbor 100 is a bright white, premium quality recycled sheet made completely from post-consumer waste pulp. That means no new trees were cut down to manufacture it. According to the Gray’s Harbor website, each ton of Harbor 100 paper that is used, compared to a ton of ‘virgin forested paper’, saves:
- 10,052 gallons of water
- 14 Million BTU’s of energy
- 1120 pounds of solid waste
- 2210 pounds of greenhouse gasses
- and over 3 tons of trees.
For our GreenDeal.ca blog readers in BC, Gray’s Harbor’s location just south of the border means less carbon emissions from shipping as well.
So until the paperless office becomes a reality, get the greenest paper you can. You’ll be supporting more than just the forests.
If you’d like to learn more about the Gray’s Harbor story, you can connect to an excellent blog post on ‘What They Think – Going Green’.
For a virtual tour of the Gray’s Harbor Mill, click here.
