Recycled Paper - Banana Papers - Coffee Papers by Banana Paper in Costa Rica

Regarding environmental degradation, the XX century has been the worst in history. The effects are only comparable to the disaster that caused the extinction of dinosaurs. The causes are, amongst others, the industrial and technological progress, the exponential growth of the world population, lack of legislation and commitment by individuals and institutions. It is expected that for the XXI century, the world population will be eleven million people. Globalization and the ever growing demand for food have increased the impact of human activity over the environment. The impact on rivers, the land, seas, and forests and in all ecosystems in general, will be greater. It is important to remember that our planet is a very sensitive and vulnerable system and all that happens in one part of the world has a severe impact in another part.

Awareness of this situation should make us compromise in a personal way and induce us to shift away from consumption habits that affect the environment so strongly. If we all collaborate, we can implement a system of sustainable development which will allow us to inherit our children and grand-children the chance to a good quality life, with satisfaction no lesser that we have had.

We are obliged to at least allow future generations to enjoy rivers and seas that are clean, pure air, abundant forests and the company of species that are in threat of extinction, such as whales, manatees, tigers and parrots.

The paper industry represents two percent of the world commerce and the demand increases every day. Paper still is the main form of communication among people, especially in the education field. It also has an infinite number of industrial uses, amongst which we can mention those related with packing and health care.

The cellulose and paper industry uses around one third of total production of wood and this proportion is increasing. Two thirds of the fiber used to make paper comes from virgin fiber and the rest comes from waste fibers. Between 5 and 10% of the derivatives of the cellulose is produced based on fibers that do not come from wood.

Amongst many environmental worries related to the manufacturing of traditional paper, we can mention:

Biodiversity loss
Replacement of natural or primary woods by tree plantations
The insufficient use of waste paper and fibers that do not come from wood
The domain of large scale mills that have a great political influence
The continuous use of chlorine as a bleach
Insufficient research regarding alternative technologies to produce paper in a cleaner way
High levels of paper use which are not sustainable, specially in rich countries
Systems of paper recollection and exports of paper impact the way of living of paper collectors in poor countries
Excessive demand of transport in the commercial cycle of paper
The hidden subsidies that promote the use of wood fiber rather than alternative fibers.

Bananas were probably the first fruit cultivated by man. Historically, it is registered before the Christian age. This plant is even cited in the Coran as the fruit of paradise, under the name “Musa Paradisiaca”, which is the modern name for plantains. It was spread all over the world and brought to the occidental hemisphere in the XVI century by an Spanish monk.

In only 15 countries, the banana agro-industry processes each year 42 million Tons of bananas with 2 million hectares planted. This industry generates numerous wastes such as: the plastic that wrap the bananas, plastic cords to tie the wrapping, damaged bananas and the pinzote (stems). An alarming quantity of over 10 million metric Tons of pinzote is thrown in landfills or even worse in local rivers.

The pinzote is composed 92% of water, 3% of resins and 2% glucose, the rest is vegetal fiber.This particular composition makes it decompose with the solid component not getting destroyed. This causes a severe impact on the surrounding ecosystems, the detriment of riversand underground waters, also the massive reproduction of flies and nauseous smells.

The word coffee comes from the arab "kahwah" (cauá), reaching us through the turkish "kahweh" (cavé), changing in the different languages but keeping it’s root.

Coffee is native of the equatorial forests of Africa, from the west coast of Uganda and the south f Sudan. Also, from the occidental part of Africa between latitudes 10º North y 10º South, in altitudes varying from sea level to 1000m. It is today, with no doubt, one the most known fruits worldwide. 30 species have been identifies, but the most important in economic terms is the Coffea arabica. It represents 80 to 90% of the world production. Other important varieties are C.canephora and the C.liberica.

The leadership belongs to Brazil, with 33% of the world production, Colombia follows with 12%. In the years 1998-99 the total world production was estimated in 6.5 million kilograms.

The ripe coffee beans have a thin peel, jelly like flesh, a cover and a silver like peel around the bean, all of this has to be removed before the beans are sent to the market.

The EARTH UNIVERSITY specializes into the research of new technologies and choices to reduce contamination in the agricultural sector. As part of its programmes it started a project into the use of the agricultural by-products of the banana industry.

For three years the EARTH produced 100% banana fibre in an artisan way, but the rate of usage was not compensating the rate that the raquis or pinzote where produced by the banana companies in the area. It is then when we ventured into studying the possibility of combining the natural fibres with post consumer paper to produce high quality paper.

Since then, 14 years ago, Ecopapers has being producing Fine Environmental Papers and Paper products derived from natural fibres. Our products excel industry standards, resulting in state of the art banana paper, coffee and other sustainable paper products.

Ecopapers prove among other things, that our modern society can satisfy its growing needs without affecting the environment; and furthermore that undeveloped countries can also help with the global efforts to preserve our environment.

Ecopapers has managed, in very few years to expand internationally and sell in highly competitive markets such as United States, Mexico, England and France. It has also managed an exponential growth as a direct result of its philosophy of conservation and respect for nature, which is shared by more people every day.
MAKING OUR FINE ENVIRONMENTAL PAPER

Agro-industrial fibres come from the waste of processing common agricultural products. In Ecopapers, we deal specifically with waste from bananas, coffee and tobacco. Our Research and Development Department is currently involved into studying new fibres from pineapple, orange and palm hearts.

Packing of bananas: as a result of pulling apart the bunches of bananas from the main stem, we have the pinzote left over and it contains 5% of usable fibre to manufacture paper.
Processing coffee: peels, leaves and small beans are separated from the coffee that will be processed, all this are used to manufacture our coffee paper.
By-products of tobacco: the leaves are separated from their veins during the processes involved in the tobacco industry, and they are used to make our tobacco paper.

Once the raw material is collected, it has to go through a process of grinding and washing. The triturating is made with mechanical grinders that extract the water from the fibres. Afterwards, the fibres are washed with hot water. Both the residual waters and the residues of the fibre are treated in oxidation tanks.

The oxidation tanks are a group of pools, one after the other hat trap the water and treat it through environmentally friendly methods until it is completely clean. The tanks have lilies and micro-organisms that decompose the organic matter through aerobic and anaerobic processes. If the organic matter was not treated it would create an anaerobic condition that could result in the reduction of oxygen in the recipient rivers causing great damage on the aquatic flora and fauna.

The fibres, once cleaned, are drained from at least 70% of the water with the purpose of transporting them to the paper mill.
Once at the mill, the fibre is mixed with water to be sent to a refiner with the purpose of diminishing the size of the fibres. The right size must be achieved to be used to produce the paper sheet.

As previously stated, the base fibre, or the “vehicle”, as we call it in ECOPAPERS, is composed with paper that has already been used in some way. It is mostly office paper, tetra pack containers, magazines and news papers. All these papers are collected by specialised collectors and sent to the mill to later be mixed with agricultural fibres. (For bleached and texture propose, we do not use any acid or chemical to bleach)

Once the mill process has begun, the post-consumer pulp is mixed with water in the “pulper” which is a huge mixer that dissolves the paper in the water.

The agro-industrial fibre and the disintegrated post-consumer fibre are mixed in a 20%-80% proportion respectively to form a suspension in the water. At this moment natural colouring can be added to achieve attractive shades in the paper.

The mix is thrown through a sprinkling system into an endless band that acts as a sieve, letting the water pass through whilst keeping the pulp in suspension.

Combining adequately the speed of the band and the pressure of the sprinkling system, the thickness of the paper sheet can be regulated, which in a standardized way in ECOPAPERS can be 60g, 90g, 120g or 250g.

From the endless band, the paper is threaded in a set of drums that rotate at a high temperature. Then through another endless band, made from an absorbent material it gets dry as it moves along. At the end of this zigzag of rotating drums, the paper sheet will only keep 3% of water and will be rolled into a big roll.

The final reel is known as an industrial paper reel and it is the main raw material for the editorial processes that follow.

Our products are the result of a combination of editorial processes that make the final product possible. The combinations are very broad and in order to understand how the products are made, it is important to understand the individual steps:

Rewinding: it is the process that divides a paper roll into smaller width rolls..
Converting: The roll is cut into sheets to make paper reams.
Paper cutting: It is a process that is usually used several times to produce an article. It can be used to make smaller pieces of paper or to clean the edges of reams or products.
Printing press: lithography is the main method of printing used; it allows achieving finishes of one colour with text to photographic quality.
Embossing: It is the process that allows raising a design and making it stand from the surface.
Dies: It is a device for cutting or moulding paper into a particular shape, unlike the paper cutter that can only make straight cuts. This allows the designs to be original and alive.
Binding: this process allows sticking the internal pages to their covers. It can be pasted with silicon for fixed pages or with water based glue to allow the pages to be pulled. There are also ring bound products, which is usually made with a double ring.
Hand crafts: Through the skilled hands of many artisans, we achieve the details that add a touch of magic to each one of our products. The decorative on-lays on the covers, the original labels and the delicate assembly of the writing sets are all made by hand.

There are other hand jobs that require speed and strength like laminating a thin paper to a card board to make the covers or separate the leftovers after cutting products.

Packing: Using strict packing standards, the products are packed to resist transport without getting damaged. We also use bar code identification which simplifies the identification in our warehouse and in our client’s warehouses.

A strict quality control makes possible that through all the stated processes we can make available for you a whole variety of ECOPAPERS’ products.

Due to the design, concept and the environmental philosophy surrounding Ecopapers’ products, there are much strength worth mentioning:

It is an attractive product: its beautiful design shows hours of dedication from our designing team. At Ecopapers we all contribute with new ideas to keep refreshing the products, all based in the concept of preservation and harmony with Nature.
It is an original product
It is an environmentally friendly product
It is very good quality and elegant
It is a new concept

Together with all the attributes mentioned above, there are many opportunities related to the commercialization of our products:

Waste paper from your office or home is called "post-consumer" waste. We assume that recycled paper is made from these wastes. This isn't necessarily so. Many of us feel deceived when we learn that most paper products labeled recycled contains little post-consumer material.

It is important for us as consumers to keep up the demand for this PCW now that the recycling of paper is as viable as it has ever been.

Post-consumer wastepaper is choking our landfills. It is going to incinerators. There is no shortage of wastepaper and we need to concentrate on using it; and taking our waste paper to the recycling center. PCW makes up a very small percentage of the paper fiber used in the US.

It is exciting to think that recycling can really do something. We can keep this trend going by demanding high PCW content in our recycled paper.Waste paper being recycled was most likely made with chlorine the first time around. The problem with chlorine is the pollution from its use initially to make the paper and not the paper once it is made. The advantage of Banana, Coffee and Tobacco Paper is that it combines the virtues of using PCW and agricultural waste. The paper is made with less toxic processes, and thus results in less pollution.When You Buy Banana, Coffee and Tobacco Paper You Are Helping To...

Post-Consumer material (PCW): Waste paper that has served its intended purpose and has been separated from solid waste to be recycled into new paper
De-Inked Material: Waste paper that has had the ink, filler, coatings, etc.
Totally chlorine free (TCF): no chlorine or chlorine derivatives used to make paper, which means the paper must come from virgin (new) fiber.
Elementally chlorine free (ECF): no chlorine gas, but other chemicals containing chlorine are used for bleaching. ECF paper is often misrepresented as TCF.
Process chlorine free (PCF): Recycled paper processed back into paper using no chlorine or chlorine derivatives. Paper no re-bleached or bleached with an oxygen-based system. Secondarily chlorine free (SCF) is the same as PCF.
Post-Mill Material: Paper waste generated in converting and printing that is done by a facility other than the paper mill. This does not include mill waste or wood chips.
Recovered, Pre-consumer, and Wastepaper: These are ambiguous terms which have little consistency in definition...often refers to non waste-stream materials such as mill broke, other mill wastes, and wood chips.
Alternative fibers paper: It is the use of alternative fibers like hemp or kenaf to produce paper. These intentional crops are land based and they require water, fertilizers and pesticides which all have an environmental impact.
Agricultural waste: it is not an intentional crop, it is the waste from an existing land use, it is an excellent alternative since is reducing the impact on the environment.