SANDY YOUNG IAN JOHNSTON
USING recycled paper has become a badge of honour worn proudly by armchair eco-warriors keen to save the planet.
But anyone who has suffered withering looks from a member of the ‘green’ brigade as they casually discarded a mountain of old newspapers may yet have the last laugh.
Leading authorities on Scotland’s forests are suggesting that recycling paper can be bad for trees.
They argue that using recycled paper reduces the demand for properly managed, sustainable forests, and could put their entire future at risk. And in another swipe at the green lobby, they suggest recycling has more to do with corporate PR than saving the Earth.
Dr Bob McIntosh, chief executive of Forest Enterprise, which manages the Forestry Commission’s woodlands, said it was time to question the "implicit assumption" that recycling was a good thing.
McIntosh, who has a PhD in ecology, said recycled paper was competing with paper made from forests which are managed in an environmentally friendly way and replanted rather than simply clear-felled.
He said: "Sustainable, responsible forest management requires a market for the timber. If you are replacing that with recycled paper, you are removing some of the financial incentive for people to be able to manage their forests responsibly.
Full: http://news.scotsman.com/scitech.cfm?id=70622003 --- Sent from UnionMail Service [http://mail.union.org.za]