The University of Northern British Columbia has created a specialty paper stock that combines pulp from northern BC with post-consumer recycled fibre. The new paper – being used for official UNBC letterhead, envelopes, and some promotional materials – represents the first time the University has used a paper that combines local and recycled content. 

“Prince George is a centre of Canada’s pulp industry, so it’s fitting that we use a paper that is comprised of fibre both harvested and processed by people locally,” says UNBC President George Iwama. “For the new paper, local pulp is added to recycled content to produce a high-quality paper that can run through printers and copiers on campus and even support full-colour publications.”
 
The new UNBC paper is comprised of 17% fibre from Canfor Pulp’s Northwood pulp mill in Prince George and 83% post-consumer recycled content. The paper has been manufactured by Monadnock Paper Mills, Canfor’s longest continuous customer. Monadnock has been in operation since 1819 and uses 100% renewable electricity in its paper-making process.
 
UNBC has purchased the equivalent of 1.4 million sheets of 8.5x11 paper, enough to last an estimated 5 years. This does not include the white bond paper normally used in printers and copiers in University offices and student computer labs.
 
Together, Canfor Pulp’s three mills in Prince George are North America’s largest producer of Northern Bleached Softwood Kraft (NBSK) pulp. Typical uses for NBSK pulp are in fine writing papers, tissue, various types of filters, and strength-based applications such as backing for vinyl flooring.
 
UNBC also uses locally sourced sawmill residue to heat its Prince George campus. This bioenergy project includes a wood pellet system at the I.K. Barber Enhanced Forestry Laboratory and a biomass gasification system that is now displacing about 85% of the campus’s fossil fuel consumption.

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Left to right: Canfor Pulp Ltd. employees and UNBC grads Adam Lancaster, Mike Dunne, and Jennifer Rusnell.