For most of us, printing e-mails or making copies is just part of the daily routine in the office. But, the paper we use does come from somewhere. Last week, we had the opportunity to visit Stora Enso's Nymolla Mill in southern Sweden to get an exclusive look at how MultiCopy paper is made. Nymolla is an integrated mill (it produces pulp and paper on the same site) and most of the wood used is sourced locally. Also interesting, the mill is the only one I could find in the world that emits zero carbon dioxide from fossil fuels during the paper making process. Check out my look inside the Nymolla Mill.

Inside Sweden's greenest paper mill from Reuters TV on Vimeo.

California, always seeking to be a trendsetter on environmental policy, is weighing a proposal to charge 25 cents for every paper or plastic bag distributed at grocery stores, pharmacies and convenience stores. The money raised would go into a state fund used to clean up trash and prevent litter related to what the bill calls "single-use" bags.

The bill's sponsor, Assemblywoman Julia Brownley, says 25 cents a bag is high enough to have a real impact on consumer behavior. The fee would be waived for some low-income Californians.

The idea, of course, is to encourage people to bring their own reusable bags to the supermarket. Brownley argues that a similar program in Ireland has been a success, reducing plastic bag litter by more than 90 percent.

The bill's other aim is to help the state offset the $25 million a year it spends to clean up plastic bag waste. Municipalities spend $300 million, Brownley says.

Chuck DeVore, a Republican assemblyman from Orange County, said the idea is "just one of a sorry series of tax increases that the Democrats are trying to foist on the working people of California."

DeVore said the bag charge would add $2 to $3 to the bill every time a family goes to the store. And if that family brings along reusable bags, that can be a health hazard.

"If you buy some chicken or some meat, unless you figure a way to wash those bags every time, you will have salmonella in those natural fibers," DeVore said.

Currently, retailers in California are required to set up in-store recycling programs for used bags. Brownley, however, says preliminary results show there has only been a negligible increase in bag recycling since that law went into effect.

But how realistic is it to push through a bill during a recession that will effectively make consumers pay more at the grocery store? Would such a law prompt you to break out those reusable bags once and for all?

DeVore says he expects the bill to pass the Assembly and land on Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's desk.

(Additional reporting by Bernie Woodall; photo by Brendan McDermid, Reuters)

Hey guys, this isn’t your pop’s polyester.

Just in time for Father’s Day shopping, Sears will roll out a line of men’s suits made of the first high-tech fabric that blends wool with polyester spun from recycled plastic soda bottles.

The suit separates, sold under Sears’ Covington Perfect brand, will be on racks in about 500 U.S. Sears stores in May.  Price: $175 for the jacket and $75 for the pants, according to Tim Danser, vice president of marketing for Bagir Group Ltd., the Israeli manufacturer that tailors the garments for Sears’ private label.

And get this: This suit is machine washable and can be tossed in the dryer, eliminating the need for dry cleaning and upping the eco-friendly ante, Danser said.

“This isn’t the polyester of the 1970s,” Moses Cohen, sales and marketing manager for N.I. Teijin Shoji (USA), Inc., the New York arm of Teijin, the Japanese chemical company that makes the suit fabric, said during a men’s fashion briefing at the swanky Kitano Hotel on Park Avenue in Manhattan.

Teijin, which developed fabrics made of recycled plastic blended with wool, viscose and cotton or with other synthetics, also partners with retailers to recycle used polyester clothing back into fabric and new clothes.

“This has a nicer hand to it,” Cohen said, running his fingers over the sleeve of his own jacket, acknowledging that “polyester still has some bad connotations” due to the quality of the “disco era” fabric of more than 30 years ago. (For devotees of the 1981 cult comedy film, “Polyester,” this is your cue: Thanks a lot, John Waters!)

“We do not use any oil,” Cohen said of the process used to turn plastic bottles made from polyethylene terephthalate, or PET, into fabric yarn.  In Japan, men’s suits from Teijin’s recycled fabrics are sold by retailer Aoki.

“We think the stars are aligned for this,” Cohen said, referring to the growing interest in green manufacturing in the United States. “It started with Al Gore and his film, ‘An Inconvenient Truth.’  We can also thank President Obama” for his emphasis on saving energy and protecting the environment.

So how did Sears, known for its Energy Star home appliances, decide to join fashion’s green front?

As Cohen recalled, Sears was the first retailer to “have the guts and the vision” to commit to the line.

“In addition to providing a handsome suit at a great price, men can feel good about their purchase, knowing they are taking a step towards helping the environment,” a Sears spokeswoman said in an e-mail.

The suits tested well in Sears stores in Boston, Chicago and the metropolitan New York area (hello, Hackensack, N.J. and Long Island) — the three top U.S. eco markets, Bagir’s Danser said.

Fun fact: It takes 25 plastic soda-pop bottles (2-liter size) to make enough polyester yarn to produce the fabric for one suit.

(Reuters photo)

We’ve all seen stores touting reusable shopping bags. They’re a trendy way to ditch those regular plastic bags and they’re often pretty cheap — 99 cents at Target and some supermarkets, 50 cents at Wal-Mart and sometimes they’re even free.
 
Now, Target is taking the reusable tote idea to a new medium.  The discount chain took out ads on the inside front cover and the back cover of the latest issue of People touting green ideas.  The most intriguing one if you’re in the market for one of those bags is to use the cover as an envelope, send in five plastic Target bags and get a coupon for a free Target tote.

Readers don’t even have to pay for the stamp — Target and TerraCycle, the company that made the “Retote” bag, already paid the postage.

On the back of the magazine, Target pointed out ways to go green and save green at its stores, such as buying its Archer Farms organic fruit snacks.  To show how earth-friendly it has become, Target even shows off a gift card made from a corn-based material that’s biodegradable in a backyard compost.  Just make sure you spend the moolah on that card before you throw it out to pasture.

(Reuters photo)

Overstock.com Chief Executive Patrick Byrne has been known to make the fur fly on Wall Street with his ongoing battle against hedge funds. But now he’s going fur-free.

Byrne said the online retailer that sells excess inventory such as furniture, clothing or accessories will no longer carry any products containing fur.

“I draw a lot of criticism for conscious-based decisions,” acknowledged Byrne during a joint conference call with the Humane Society of the United States, referring to his fight since 2005 against naked short selling, the practice of betting against a company and profiting from its decline.

Byrne said the decision to ban fur on Overstock was easy, even though he acknowledged “I’m not a real tree-hugger guy or even an animal-hugger kind of guy.”

“You don’t have to think about it very much before you realize … you’re completely objectifying an animal when you say I’m going to wear it as a decorative object. That’s over the line for anyone who gives it any thought, I would think.”

Overstock joins 99 other retailers and designers who have pledged to stay fur-free, according to the Humane Society. A list of participating retailers and designers is here.

See the full story here.