Atwood book printed on revolutionary straw-based paper

Renowned Canadian author and activist Margaret Atwood, and forest advocacy non-profit group Canopy, have released a limited special edition of Atwood's new book In Other Worlds: SF and the Human Imagination. The book is printed on a revolutionary new form of paper, developed by Canopy. Second Harvest Paper is a North American first, containing only straw left over after the grain harvest and recycled paper. The special edition Atwood title is the first book in North America to be printed on this pioneering paper.

"I joined Canopy in this trial to show that we can meet our paper needs using low-footprint straw instead of relying on endangered forests," says Margaret Atwood. "Second Harvest Paper is the kind of practical innovation that could make paper from endangered forests ancient history."

Canopy arranged the rare Atwood special edition to demonstrate the viability of Second Harvest Paper as an alternative to conventional papers. Second Harvest Paper is part of a broader Canopy campaign to diversify the North American paper fibre basket in order to reduce the stress on endangered forests by kick starting commercial scale development of straw-based papers.

"There is enough leftover straw in North America to keep up to 800 million trees standing every year and Canopy has already identified customer demand to keep four pulp mills running full time," says Nicole Rycroft, Executive Director of Canopy. "Shifting paper production from our endangered forests to our fields would yield a new resource sector with benefits to farming communities, our economy, and forest ecosystems around the world."

The special edition books are published by McClelland & Stewart. The Canadian publishing giant already prints many of its titles, including the main run of Atwood's In Other Worlds, on 100% post-consumer recycled paper as part of an environmental initiative developed with Canopy ten years ago.

The Second Harvest Paper used in the Atwood book has half the ecological footprint of conventional paper and is the product of a unique partnership Canopy forged with paper producer Cascades Fine Paper, technical collaborators at Alberta Innovates, and leading North American printer Friesens.

"This trial has shifted Second Harvest Paper from theoretical possibility to tangible product, and made it an important business strategy for Cascades," says Julie Loyer, Communication & Sustainable Development, Cascades Specialty Products Group. "In order to make Second Harvest Paper available commercially what we need now is government and other industry players to join us in making a reliable North American supply of straw pulp."