mystery product: No Stone Unturned

Paper hasn't always had the best reputation. In fact, it is the largest component of solid waste in landfills and it uses up vast quantities of trees—which doesn't help its case.
In an effort to preserve the environment, more companies are evaluating their current processes and making some changes. This month's mystery product shows one way this is being accomplished.

Check out the following clues to guess this item:

• It is 100 percent recyclable.

• It is 100 percent compostable.

• It reduces the toxic levels in garbage dumps.

• It does not require trees during its production.

mystery product revealed

Located in Montreal, Bannerpen Inc. is doing its part to protect the environment by using stone paper.

Designed specifically for offset or flexo printing, stone paper has many benefits. For instance, stone paper does not require water at its production. It also does not require toxic or chemical bleach to render the paper white. And, it requires 50 percent less energy to produce one ton of stone paper compared to regular pulp paper.

The production of stone paper utilizes a proprietary method of pulverizing limestone to a fine powder and subsequently binding it together using a very small portion of polyethelyne. When finished, the composition of the stone paper is 80 percent to 82 percent stone (calcium carbonate) and 18 percent to 20 percent polyethelyne.

Bannerpen has two different collections featuring stone paper. Its latest offering, the enviro+stone collection, is a unique combination of ENVIRO™100 cover paper (made with FSC-certified 100 percent post consumer fiber) and Bannerpen's exclusive 5pt stone paper inner sheets.

The books are available in three sizes: small (3.5x5.5"), medium (4.75x6.75") and large (6.5x9.75"). Furthermore, they come in three bindings (saddle-stitched, spiral and perfect bound) and can be printed in four-color process front and back on a 16pt. cover stock with 80 stone paper inner pages.