Typek 50% Recycled Paper

For years, I have been phoning around trying to track down recycled office paper. It was simply impossible to find. So I was very excited when SAPPI last year introduced Typek 50% Recycled, in appropriately green packaging. It takes me more than a year to finish a ream of paper, however, so only when I ran out of paper this week did I get a chance to try it.

Finding Typek Green was not easy. My local Waltons and CNA did not stock it, even though a wholesaler told me that they do supply it to CNA. Makro, however, had plenty of stock, and even had it on promotion: R129 for a box of 5 reams. That’s several rand cheaper than the price of ordinary red Typek at Makro or Game. (Sale price ends January 29.) Five reams would last me until approximately 2014, but I’m happy to sell it on to friends and family.

I tested the paper in my cranky, paper-jam prone laser printer, and it worked perfectly. Compared to ordinary Mondi Rotatrim paper, it appears fractionally less white, though no one would call it grey, or even off-white. It is also a wee bit less opaque and has just enough pin-point flecks of pigment to give it credibility as recycled paper, but not enough to be noticed by a casual reader. I see no reason to ever buy non-recycled office paper again.

The actual content of the paper is 30 percent post-consumer paper and 20 percent “post-industrial waste,” which basically means clean off-cuts from paper factories. This pre-consumer paper would get recycled anyway, but it’s still impressive to see waste paper being made into a high-value product instead of toilet paper or paper towel, which is the more common fate of recycled white paper. The other 50 percent of the content comes from trees, but even this half of the paper has some green virtues. The trees come from commercial forests certified by the Forest Stewardship Council. I first started choosing Mondi Rotatrim paper because Mondi had FSC certified paper before SAPPI. To be certified, a forest must meet certain environmental conditions, such as natural areas of indigenous trees maintained alongside commercial plantations.

Though it’s a major improvement, using no paper at all is even better. So I will stick to my usual office procedures. Most documents are read and stored electronically and never printed. I even receive faxes on my computer through Telkom’s Virtual Fax service (R11 per month) and most of these faxes I save on my PC or discard without printing. When I do print, I usually use paper that already has printing on one side. I collect this half-used paper for free from relatives in big offices or from printing shops. New paper is for printing formal documents, letters and school projects.

As a result, it may be a few more years before I can reward SAPPI for its innovation with another purchase, so I will have to rely on others. If you know a person who makes office supply decisions, encourage them to try it. If your local stationer doesn’t carry Typek 50% Recycled, ask them to stock it. And let us know where you do find it stocked by clicking on the comments link below.