Second Harvest Paper Project

Tree-Free Paper Out of the Boutique and into the Mainstream

For the better part of two centuries North America has been underutilizing agricultural fibres (wheat, flax, rye, rice, hemp straw, etc) for the manufacture of papers. This has put the burden of supplying a dramatic increase in paper consumption on forests and has impacted farmers’ income potential from their crops. Currently millions of acres of straw in North America are being burned or dumped. In the prairie provinces of Canada where logging companies are cutting endangered old growth forest for paper, the straw left after harvest could produce more pulp than there is current mill capacity to produce!

Second Harvest Paper Project joins the skills and experience of three organizations, Fiber Futures, ForestEthics and Markets Initiative, to build mainstream market demand for paper made with agricultural fibres. We are leveraging that demand to encourage pulp mills to invest in non-wood pulp mill infrastructure.

Second Harvest Paper Project is organized to work with the pulp and paper industry to diversify their raw fibre base, as part of our forest conservation goals, and to support the development of mill technology that is more energy, water and chemical efficient. In the process farmers find new markets, mills pulp significantly fewer old growth and endangered forests. Straw burning, deforestation and pulping trees are bad for climate change. Switching to agricultural fibres for paper reduces greenhouse gas emissions, helps conserve endangered forests and stimulates rural economic development. We’re building the market demand for a better supply of paper.