Verified raw material guarantees the quality of the outcome
Nowadays, paper is mainly produced from chemical pulp. Chemical pulp is obtained from fast-growing tree species like aspen, birch, pine and spruce. Mature trees of the right age are felled, delimbed, and cut into logs with a proper length, then transported to pulpwood purchasers, whose task it is to inspect the quality of the delivered wood and resell it to paper mills. Ecoprint mostly accepts paper material from producers with an FSC®️ certificate. Many wood purchasers accept only certified wood.
The wood supply chain or FSC®️ certificate certifies that only wood originating from responsible forest stewardship is used in producing paper, which, in turn, denotes that the material can be tracked in all stages of production and marketing, from a forest steward to the manufacturer of the final product.
Pulpwood accepted by a purchaser is subject to strict requirements and not all logs necessarily pass inspection. The diameter of the logs should be between 6 and 60 cm, the length standard is 3 and 4 metres. The trees that are delivered to a pulpwood purchaser must be delimbed neatly near the trunk so that the wood could be smoothly debarked. Forked trees or very crooked logs are not accepted because the cylinder where the logs pass through has limited dimensions. Purchasers point out that high-quality raw material must not contain charred wood, soot, plastics, metal, chemicals, rocks or other foreign matter.
The most important feature of pulpwood is the length of cellulose fibres. The length of the fibres determines the paper product that pulpwood can be used to make. Wood from coniferous trees is considered more valuable because of its long fibres. For example, for a paper bag to be durable, the raw material needs to have long fibres that are obtained from growing wood, not waste paper. Cellulose derived from deciduous trees is used in producing printing paper because deciduous fibres give the paper an even structure and great print-related features. Both hardwood and softwood is used in producing paper. Softwood (e.g., aspen and birch) fibres provide tensile strength to the paper (used for producing kraft paper), hardwood (e.g., oak and maple) fibres make the paper opaque (used for books, magazines).
Our team at Ecoprint endeavours to guide our customers towards environmentally sustainable solutions. We recommend using FSC-certified paper, as the resulting print materials look fabulous and are produced in an eco-friendly manner. Most of our paper comes from Scandinavia, which guarantees that we get high-quality and eco-friendly material.