Perspectives on the U.S. Paper Industry and Sustainable Production

Summary In the past decade and a half, the U.S. paper industry became the target of an unusual convergence of environmental concerns. These concerns have focused on the industrys role in forest and biodiversity depletion, the municipal solid waste management crisis, and various toxic chemical pollution problems. Although such concerns are traditionally treated as distinct environmental policy areas, the prominence of the paper industvs impacts in each area gave rise to an increasingly integrated environmental perspective fixed on the system of paper production and consumption, and on the paper industry itself. The argument advanced here suggests that the structure of the modem industry itself must be a central focus in a more integrated environmental perspective that can meaningfully accommodate the multiple social, economic, and ecological goals of sustainabilrty. Two issues, paper recycling and the use of nonwood fiber sources, are discussed from this point of view. The article concludes with a discussion of how a sectoral analysis of environmental problems can be Addrw correspondence tot used to frame a comprehensive strategic vision of attemative futures in the industry, and to design effective public policies and strategies