Why Use Unbleached Paper?

Paper, in it’s natural state is beige or light brown.  For years people have subjected it to a bleaching process to create the white sheets we all know and love.  Unfortunately, cleaning the paper is having the opposite effect on the environment. The most common bleaching agent – chlorine dioxide (ClO2) – occurs naturally as a component of salt, but once it separates from it’s natural pair it begins to cause problems. The paper bleaching process deposits chlorine in the lakes and streams where mills are most commonly located, and once there it bonds with organic matter in the form of dioxins.

Dioxins are a group of highly toxic chemicals that are thought to pose negative effects on reproductive and immune system development, as well as cause several kinds of cancers. Recent studies suggest that dioxins are also an “endocrine disrupter” – one of a number of toxic chemicals that interfere with our hormone systems by mimicking natural hormones and blocking or disrupting their normal action. According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, there is no safe level of dioxin exposure.  Even one drop in an Olympic size pool is enough to kill all life in the pool!

If You Care Aluminum Foil – 95% Energy Savings

It takes only 5% energy to produce recycled aluminum foil compared with regular aluminum foil. The energy equivalent of 1 gallon of fuel produces 2.78 lbs virgin aluminum, while only 0.05 gallons is required to produce 2.78 lbs recycled aluminum.  Expressed in terms of rolls of aluminum foil, 1.39 cups of fuel produces one roll of traditional foil, while only 0.07 cups is used for each If You Care roll.

And these energy savings don’t even take into account the financial and environmental benefits of lower transportation weights and fuel costs.  The primary component of aluminum is bauxite, typically mined in tropical and sub-tropical regions.  Which means in addition to the tremendous energy expenditures and environmental costs in the mining of the mineral, there are very significant added transportation and fuel costs in moving it around the globe. Most of these energy costs are saved in the recycling process, so If You Care Recycled Aluminum foil uses even less than 5% that of regular aluminum foil.

Recycling 1kg aluminum can save up to:

  • 8kg bauxite

  • 4kg chemical products

  • 14,000 watts electricity


Others have taken note of our claims as well. Consumer Reports’ investigation of the energy claim on If You Care Recycled Aluminum Foil packaging was published in September 2007, with the quote: “The maker of If You Care 100% Recycled Aluminum Foil claims to use 5% of the energy needed to make regular foil, AND RESEARCH BEARS THAT OUT.”