Although SUNY-ESF has the oldest program in paper engineering in the country, a new connection will help students and faculty in the program dismiss myths about the paper industry.

The Department of Paper and Bioprocess Engineering at the State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry officially became a partner with the nonprofit organization Two Sides in January, according to a news release on the Two Sides website.

Gary Scott, chair of the department, said Two Sides is an advocacy group focused on improving the reputation of the paper industry through reliable information and connections to paper engineering institutions throughout the world.

“I think some of the messaging material that Two Sides has developed can help us recruit students into the program,” Scott said.

The partnership between ESF and Two Sides started after Scott and students in the paper engineering department heard the president of Two Sides, Phil Riebel, speak at an industry convention in North Carolina. ESF officials then talked with Two Sides about a partnership, Scott said.

Historically, the paper industry has not been good at promoting itself as a sustainable industry, Scott said. He said he thinks the partnership with Two Sides will help ESF educate people about the realities of the paper industry.

In New York state, paper industries selectively harvest trees according to a system planned 60 years in advance to ensure the continuous health and stability of forests, Scott said.

The paper industry is actually one of the largest industries in the United States based off of sustainable and renewable materials, Scott said.

He said Two Sides and ESF are combating the new trend of companies encouraging customers to take advantage of electronic billing because they claim it is better for the environment, since it saves paper and therefore trees. Scott said companies often do this to shift printing costs from company printing to home printing, however, at the same time, they paint the paper industry in the United States as unsustainable.

ESF’s new connection to Two Sides is helping paper engineering students such as Aislinn Brackman, dismiss myths about the paper industry.

“We are trying to inform people about the sustainability of paper because there is a huge misconception that paper is bad and kills trees,” said Brackman, a senior. “The paper industry actually promotes healthy forests.”

Brackman said she hopes Two Sides can help her paper science club, Papyrus, spread the word that the paper industry actually promotes healthy forests and overall sustainability.

Christopher Wood, a graduate student in the paper engineering program, said the paper industry saves forests in places such as South America, where companies would otherwise buy the land and clear-cut it for development or breeding livestock.

“There are counties in Maine that are nothing but trees, and they are owned by international paper industries,” Wood said. “They are being careful with it because they know that is their raw material.”

Joseph Piazza, a junior paper engineering major, said his biggest hope is that the connection with Two Sides will increase education among people who are unfamiliar with what the department at ESF is all about.

He is also a member of the Papyrus club, and loves to see people’s faces light up when he gives tours of the paper creation process in Walters Hall.

Said Piazza: “We want people to see that we are trying to prepare for the future and become a savior of the urban environment.”

Published on February 10, 2013 at 11:30 pm

Contact Shannon: smhazlit@syr.edu