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.

When it comes to hygiene, Hannu Kottonen is one executive who practices what he preaches. As the man who heads Metsa Tissue, a company that produces products ranging from tissues to toilet paper, he knows a thing or two about how germs spread. So when he visited the Thomson Reuters office in Helsinki to take part in the annual Reuters Paper and Packaging Summit, perhaps we should not have been surprised when he declined to shake the hands ot the various journalists assembled there.

We didn’t take it personally and Kottonen explained that hygiene was an issue that had not been given due attention. But some of that seems to be changing. Metsa Tissue is seeing more demand for some hygiene-related products as a result of the H1N1 flu outbreak and all the attention on hygiene it had generated. And it’s not the only such company. Another Finnish specialty paper producer, Ahlstrom Corp, reported a similar trend, with more demand for the material that goes into face masks and for sanitary wipes.

Kottonen said in a Reuters news story, ”Too many consumers, even officials, have taken hygiene for granted… This sort of pandemic exposure risk is highlighting the importance of good hand hygiene.”

A group of Swedish entrepreneurs says its Whitelines product is the biggest innovation in paper since the Medieval Ages. Whitelines designer Olof Hansson says that not only is it easier to read what’s written on the pages but it is also producing paper that is socially responsible. Check out the story:

The global paper industry has struggled for more than six years to claw its way out of a slump, as soft demand and overcapacity have kept prices down, leading to poor earnings, production curtailments and layoffs.

The current global downturn has further eroded demand for basic materials, including paper, as print advertising has dropped steeply in the crisis. Companies have been forced to run just to stand still, temporarily or permanently shutting mills and axing staff.

The sector is now at a crossroads. Will businesses after the recession look roughly the same, only smaller? Will demand ever return when electronic books and newspapers are surging? With many forestry companies big producers of biomass, what role will green energy play in the future?