Paperless billing is costing the paper industry. But storeless shopping helps.

Nov 3, 2023
Revenue for the U.S. paper mill industry has declined in recent years. E-commerce, though, has stirred a boom in cardboard packaging.
A box of paper from fictional company Dunder Mifflin, made famous in "The Office."
Donald Bowers/Getty Images for Quill.com

Will “deprinting” reduce the paper industry’s carbon footprint?

Aug 17, 2022
A new device will allow the same sheet of paper to be erased and reprinted 10 times, cutting waste and carbon emissions.
The cycle of felling trees, transporting them and using fossil fuel-based processes to turn them into pulp for paper is highly polluting.
rustycanuck/Getty Images

Supply chain snags hit books

Nov 10, 2021
Shipping delays, reduced printing capacity and a paper shortage plague publishers and retailers as holiday shopping gets underway.
Publishers are likely to prioritize large book retailers like Barnes & Noble, above, for distribution rather than smaller, indie stores.
Justin Sullivan via Getty Images

There's still a paper shortage. You know what that means.

Oct 4, 2021
School supplies, holiday cards and, yes, toilet paper are all affected.
Shortages in paper products come down to paper pulp. It’s produced in mills, which are slowed down because of worker shortages right now.
Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

How did letter paper come to be 8.5 x 11 inches in size?

Nov 8, 2019
As part of our "I've Always Wondered" series, a listener asks why we've ended up with these arbitrary-seeming dimensions for office paper.
A vat man making paper in the mid-20th century.
Courtesy Georgia Tech Institute Communications

Strong demand for wood pulp driving diaper, paper towel prices higher

Jul 31, 2018
Your shopping bill could be getting noticeably higher. Procter & Gamble today announced it’s planning to raise prices on a lot of its products, including Bounty paper towels and Puffs tissues. One reason for those increases? P&G is having to pay a lot for wood pulp, which is basically what paper towels, diapers and toilet […]
 A worker at Potlatch Corporation Consumer Products Division transports two huge parent rolls of tissue paper, weighing 4500 pounds. 
Jeff T. Green/Getty Images

What the loss of a mill means to a town

Jan 8, 2018
An industry that once defined Camas, Washington, is coming to an end. Now the former mill town is searching for its future identity.
Camas Mayor Scott Higgins in his office.
Molly Solomon/ for Marketplace

For public good, not for profit.

Holidays put the bow on the gift-wrapping industry

Dec 23, 2015
In the U.S., gift wrap accounts for $3.2 billion a year in retail sales.
What kinds of gifts did you ask for or register for?
Kristofor Husted

Paper industry wants customers back

Sep 15, 2015
Thanks to e-mail, e-vites and e-readers, paper use has dropped.

How much paper would it take to print the Internet?

Apr 24, 2015
U.K. college students calculated how much paper it would take to print the Internet.