Oh Paper, Where Art Thou?

It's been there for you for thousands of years.

It is portable, consistent and offers its users an undeniable level of security despite its reputation for being the number one killer of trees. Even with the invention of cell phones and the Internet, paper has proven itself as a versatile and effective form of communication.

And, that's why paper—even with those nasty paper cuts—is here to stay.

"Many people believe that paper usage has fallen off enormously since the advent of ubiquitous computer technology, but our company is still going strong in our core paper grades," said Melissa Klug, director of marketing, printing and carbonless papers division of the York, Pennsylvania-based Glatfelter. "Usage has definitely changed, and the industry has contracted, but there is still a demand for paper products."

But, she noted there have been plenty of changes. Klug explained grades, such as carbonless paper, aren't used as frequently as they were 10 or 20 years ago.

"However, we still sell an extremely healthy quantity of carbonless paper. We are seeing a rise in our security papers business—many customers want to ensure the integrity of their important documents, which sometimes doesn't happen in an e-world. In book publishing papers, we have seen the rise in the use of very low-quality papers for books, whereas the demand for our high-quality tradebook grades has been more compressed."

Anita Marie Blinkal, product manager, Saint-Jerome, Quebec-based Cascades Fine Papers Group, shared her thoughts on the matter.

"Today, when people use paper, they use less of it. In fact, we need less copy paper in offices and printed material due to targeted distribution. In the last decade, we have noticed that consumers are more knowledgeable of paper and therefore, more demanding. This applies to both product characteristics, such as brightness levels, and environmental attributes, like recycled content and third-party certifications."