Wheat Straw Waste Paper by Step Forward Paper

Paper. First created in China in 2 A.D. It has endless uses besides just for writing. Crafts, decorations, baking supplies, posters, photos, oh the list has endless possibilities. Now you might think paper is an eco-friendly nightmare. Oh the horror of all these trees being cut down just to make these paper products. Well the good green news is that if you look hard enough you will find paper that is created environmentally responsible.

Companies that harvest the trees also plant trees to re-grow in their place. You can also look for recycled paper, which of course has already been made into paper and can be made into that again. That’s great and all but I’ve always wondered if there was an alternative that didn’t have to start with cutting down any plants to begin with, just to create them into paper products.

Well apparently now there is and I’m pretty excited by it. Endorsed by Woody Harrelson, Step Forward Paper is made with 80% wheat straw. Which is normally considered waste once the wheat grains are harvested. So by incorporating materials that would be waste into a product that we would use, it is already saving trees and keeping waste out of landfills, put to better use.

I think it is a very resourceful idea, since two boxes of this paper help to save 1 whole tree. It does include 20% tree paper, but this is FSC (Forest Stewardship Council), who make sure the trees used are taken in a responsible manner. To make this paper even more eco-friendly it is elemental chlorine-free. Meaning it uses chlorine dioxide instead of elemental chlorine gas during the bleaching process to make the paper white. Hopefully their next step would be for them to be Totally Chlorine Free (TCF), since that process does not use any chlorine compounds.

At this time the paper only comes in letter size (8.5×11) and 21lb. weight. To me it does seem a lot heavier than just standard 20lb., which is great. It has the properties of a thicker paper, without the cost. It does also seem to have a lot more grain that regular tree paper. So for printing with full coverage perhaps it will depend on your printer, if you will have a problem with seeing the grain show through the ink or not have the ink fill in fully. I printed this paper in my inkjet printer and commercial copier and it turned out great! Black text didn’t flake off, it was bright with full color images. I am very impressed with the quality of this paper seeing how it is made from “waste” materials.

Created by Prairie Pulp and Paper, Inc. in Canada. Their future goal is to create 100% tree-free paper and do have future plans to make the paper Tree & Chlorine Free in the future. They are making great strides to change the way products are created. At $9.99 a ream (500 sheets) you can try Step Forward Paper yourself and know that you are helping to save trees in the process.

Not sure if you will love it? We have some free sample packages to giveaway (while supplies last). Just comment below to let us know you’d like a package, one sample per person please. Or head over to Step Forward Paper’s website and request your free sample there.