OK, I accept that I’m very defensive about the unique qualities for timber as a renewable ‘environmentally friendly’ product that has a multitude of uses, so when I see other materials purporting to be ‘green’, I often get annoyed.
In this instance it was more about being puzzled. In the bathroom of a fairly upmarket London hotel I spotted this rather unusual little complimentary package. It was stated as being an Eco Friendly Shower Cap, packaged in Stone Paper, 100% Tree Free.
I realise that there are some timber species that are endangered and banned from use; there are others that are best left alone, because they’re heading towards being endangered, but that still leaves plenty of trees that are grown as crops, harvested and turned into products, sustainably. Paper is one of the main products made from trees and as it’s recyclable, that makes paper a very ‘Eco Friendly’ material.
So, the manufacturer (and presumably the hotel chain) see wood based paper use as a bad thing but converting stone into paper for packaging use as good?
Now, I don’t know the whole production cycle but they even went to the bother of depicting this to some extent on the reverse: Get lumps of stone (non-renewable the last time I checked) and grind it down and, somehow or another, turn it into paper. What the plant symbol means is beyond me but maybe they’re trying to say it saves a plant from being used instead.
The rest of the explanation is about how the actual packaged item, a shower cap, is made from Cornstarch and printed on with Soya ink (fair enough I guess).
Well, call me old fashioned but that really does seem to be stark raving bonkers; I cannot see the logic. Maybe you can explain this and set the record straight?
