Welcome everybody to episode 8 of the Paper and Plastic show. This is the show where we talk about, you guessed it, paper and plastic. We're recording from the beautiful Ocean Ridge Studios in Toronto, Canada. And we are all about Making the paper and plastic industry cool and this podcast this show. It's on all platforms YouTube Instagram Facebook LinkedIn Spotify Apple podcasts going worldwide So we can educate you about this essential industry that's making a huge impact worldwide and all the cool people That are working behind the scenes to make your everyday a reality we just so easily throw our trash in the garbage, in the blue bin, in the recycled bin and order on Amazon and a new box appears and we open it up, we cut it out and throw it back in the blue bin. Who is doing all that? Who is taking care of all that material? Who is processing all that material? Did you know that all of your Amazon boxes primarily are made from recycled craft or recycled boxes? I'm not sure if you knew that. And a lot of the material that you throw in the blue bin, it makes its way back into the cycle to be reused. There's pretty much two types of paper. There's virgin material, and there's recycled material. Virgin material, like virgin olive oil, is a brand new material. This is the material that comes from the trees, they get pulped down, they get into a big mush, and it creates virgin fiber and virgin paper. This is brand new paper. And then there's recycled material, which is, it goes in the blue box, it goes in the recycle bin, it gets reprocessed, it gets sorted at the MRFs, they remove all impurities to the best of their abilities, and then they make new paper. But the point is, virgin fiber is always going to be stronger because it's brand new. And recycled fiber is a little bit weaker, but it's significantly more environmentally impactful because it leaves less of an impact because you're using material again and again and again.
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Plastic is not Evil Evil paper
is not evil. Like in Canada, they ban plastic straws. I have a whole thing to say about that. We use plastic everywhere, but you know, plastic straws, it's the devil. It's actually a one time use or single use products. That's the problem. So I always get asked what's better. Is it better to have virgin material or better to have recycled material? The answer is it's not really conclusive. Recycled material is better for every environmentally, But if I was in a surgery, God forbid, and they were going to put bandages on me and the backing was made from recycled fiber or recycled paper, I wouldn't want an infection. Because Murphs are only so good at separating material. Or if I was buying food and I was going to have a burger and that paper that the burger was sitting in was made from recycled fiber, and my food was going to touch that recycled fiber and there was no middle layer to protect it. And I don't know how comfortable I would feel because that paper might have come anything from, some baby diapers to dog poop or, insects, bugs, there's always a small tiny microscopic impurity percentage that's going to be there, which I don't want touching my food. So what's better, virgin or recycled? The answer is it depends on the use case. Recycled, 100 percent better for environmental stewardship. Virgin, if the need or the requirement requires you to be, and that touches food. or healthcare or people, then virgin is the way to go. But, the point stands. Recycled is good. And today, we're talking about something that, you guys use every single day at your houses. Egg cartons. Did you know, egg cartons are primarily, the paper ones, made from recycled fiber. And all of them are biodegradable because they're made from waste paper. They're made from paper that you throw in your office blue bin or your home blue bin and it's reprocessed and it's converted into these biodegradable egg cartons. And that is much better than using those foam or plastic or premium egg cartons, because this material is biodegradable, which means that if you throw it on the ground, it can just become dirt all over again. And the cycle starts again, you grow new trees and new material. And that's what it's all about. Each person in the United States is consuming 279 eggs per year. Quick math. 279 So you're using about 22 and a half. egg cartons a year. And that's just you. Like
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1 American
is using 22 egg
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cartons a year.
times that by your family, you times that by all the people in your community. That's a lot of egg cartons. So if we're not being socially responsible and using materials that can be biodegradable, it's going to, it's going to pile up so let's try to do our part. When you have your egg tray, take it, put it back in the blue bin. If you have your Amazon box, put it in the blue bin, put it in the recycle bin, don't just put it in the landfill. I have a lot of people on our TikTok Instagram, they were saying. Oh, it's not so bad that we're using McDonald's paper cups. Don't you know they're recyclable? Yeah, they're recyclable as long as you empty the containers out. if you have an ice cream container and it says recyclable on it, if you leave a half full of ice cream, they will not recycle that material. It's going to go straight to the trash, to the landfill, any glass bottle if it's half full
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of sauce they're not going to recycle it,
they're going to put it in the landfill because the MRFs aren't advanced that they can literally come out. Open your jar, wash it out, and then put it into the recycling process. So you have to clean all your bottles, clean all your boxes, clean all your jars, otherwise it's just landfill. And we can use this material to make new material. And that's super cool and super important. See you in the next one. Paper Matthews Show, and we're out.