The following is a guest blog from a Chamber member. In no way does it represent the views or opinions of The Greater Bloomington Chamber of Commerce. To submit a guest blog e-mail drose@chamberbloomington.org for more information.

For many years, the paper industry has been criticized with environmental claims of deforestation, excessive energy consumption, and crowding landfills. The exact opposite couldn’t be truer. Paper from today’s world comes from renewable resources. It not only is recyclable and biodegradable, but paper is even responsible.

Misleading claims of deforestation has generated a negative image for paper and aided the digital age into an up-roaring. Paper is composed of cellulose fibers, generally coming from trees, but that should not automatically mean they are destroying the forests of our world. It is in the paper manufacturers’ best interest to ensure sustainability for the longevity of their business. In fact, did you know according to the USDA Forest Service four million trees are planted daily in the United States? Of that, 1.7 million trees are planted by the paper and wood products industry. Once trees are harvested, the sustainable forestry practices ensure several more trees are planted, or regenerated naturally in their place.

Ironically, claims of massive energy consumption have led many to electronic medias. Not only are the consumers not thinking about the gigantic amount of energy consumed to generate and store those world-wide blast emails on server farms around the world, but they are also neglecting to think about the electronic waste not being recycled. According to the US Environmental Protection Agency, 57% of the paper consumed in America is recovered for recycling, while only 18% of electronic waste in the US is recycled. This is due to the content of lead, mercury, arsenic, and other hazardous materials found with our electronic devises. What’s even worse is they are all increasingly making their way into our water table from landfill leakage.

The forest products industry is not only recycling more of their post-consumer products, but they  also lead all manufacturing industries in onsite electricity generation. Providing energy for nearly half of its own energy needs, many mills go above and beyond by providing energy to their surrounding electric power grid. The wood and paper industry is doing all they can to reduce their carbon footprint, while the footprint associated with the information and communication technologies is rapidly enlarging. Going “paperless” really does come with an additional cost.

Here at Metropolitan Printing Service we take pride in our green efforts by recycling all of our paper and aluminum waste. In 2009, we generated 250 tons of waste paper and 6.1 tons of waste cardboard. We contributed to the production of paper towels, cardboard, toilet paper, chipboard, and raw aluminum stock. We encourage our customers to do the only responsible thing and join the green initiative. We offer several “green” alternatives for our clients seeking to reduce their own carbon footprint. In addition to our recycled stocks, we offer a vast collection of certified stocks from the Forest Stewardship Council(FSC) and Sustainable Forestry Initiative(SFI). With our FSC and SFI certifications we adhere to strict purchasing procedures to ensure our paper is acquired from sustainable, legal, and verified logging resources.  The certified stock logo is also placed on the final printed piece when their stocks are used to advertise our client’s green efforts.