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While so much of our lives have veered toward the digital, many organizations' operations still rely to some degree on paper. Innovative solutions to help minimize the impact of continued paper use include print-optimization technologies and more "sustainable" fonts. Now, Seiko Epson Corporation has developed what it believes to be the world's first compact office paper-making system capable of producing new paper from securely shredded waste paper with minimal use of water.

The paper industry is pushing back against the "paperless" workplace and trying to persuade corporate decision-makers that paper can be greener than you'd think. Sustainably produced paper doesn't harm the planet and is arguably better than technologies that produce electronic waste, industry reps say. "We have to be careful when we pin one product against the other and say it's better. It's a tricky thing to do if you don't have all the data to back it up," says Phil Riebel, president of industry group Two Sides U.S

Mondelez International, Mars, Nestlé, and 12 other companies launched the Paper Cup and Recycling Group, which will promote paper cup recovery and recycling opportunities.

Sprint will test a new kind of paper made from 80 percent wheat-straw waste for its customer mailings as a sustainable paper alternative.

Sprint will test a new kind of paper made from 80 percent wheat-straw waste for its customer mailings as a sustainable paper alternative.

While so much of our lives have veered toward the digital, many organizations' operations still rely to some degree on paper. Innovative solutions to help minimize the impact of continued paper use include print-optimization technologies and even more "sustainable" fonts.

In its new position paper, Halting Deforestation and Achieving Sustainability, the Rainforest Alliance addresses the recent surge in deforestation-free pledges. The paper argues the deforestation-free trend is an exciting development, but it needs definition, focus, and accountability to deliver lasting benefits for forests, people and the planet.

Unilever goal aims at ending illegal deforestation. Unilever and other companies "made a commitment not to sell anything anymore from illegal deforestation by the year 2020 -- soy, paper, pulp, beef, palm oil.

Pulp Green Tech (PGT), which owns Thai Gorilla Pulp in Thailand, says it has made high-grade quality paper pulp from 100 percent palm oil waste material, called empty fruit bunches or EFBs (pictured).

Fisher International has developed what it says is the paper industry's first carbon emission database and benchmarking resource.

Asia Pulp and Paper Group, one of the largest paper producers in the world, is serious about its pledge to end the clearing of natural forests, according to a progress review of the company's Forest Conservation Policy.Greenpeace International, a long-time critic of APP and the organization that conducted the progress review, is cautiously optimistic and warns that the company's commitments are likely to stand or fall by the quality of conservation and management recommendations to the company's senior management.

Greenpeace has ended a five-year truce with one of the world's largest paper companies, accusing it of cutting down tropical forests in Indonesia during the entire time the two were cooperating on conservation.

Procter & Gamble has set a goal of obtaining environmental certification from the Forest Stewardship Council for all of its paper products and packaging. P&G is pursuing this goal in part by partnering with Domtar, a Canada-based manufacturer of paper and pulp products.

Apple says that 320,000 acres of working forest in China have been certified by the Forest Stewardship Council and that the company is now protecting and creating enough sustainable working forest to cover the paper use in its packaging for all products.

Americans renew their relationship with paper, ditching the cheap stuff for reading news to buy expensive stock for photo-based cards and albums.

Dunkin' Donuts plans to begin phasing out polystyrene foam cups beginning this spring, planning to have completely eliminated polystyrene cups from its global supply chain by 2020. While the majority of Dunkin' Donuts' international markets are currently using paper cups, the company will work to replace foam cups with a new, double-walled paper cup throughout its US stores as quickly as manufacturing capabilities can get up to speed. Dunkin' Donuts has been searching for a suitable - and affordable - replacement for polystyrene cups since 2011.

On Thursday, Asia Pulp & Paper Group announced it is committing to retire roughly 7,000 hectares (~17,300 acres) of commercial plantation areas to protect threatened carbon-rich peatlands - the first time that plantations on tropical peatland have been retired for conservation purposes worldwide.

Collaboration on rainforest protection can improve transparency, empower communities and boost regulation standards

Drawing on a key example of successful stakeholder engagement between Rainforest Action Network and Mitsubishi Electric, Erik Wohlgemuth, Future 500's COO, draws important connections and breaks down how NGOs and corporations must continue to work together to confront irresponsible forest management and illegal deforestation across the globe.

Threatened with expulsion from the World Business Council for Sustainable Development, Indonesian pulp and paper company Asia Pacific Resources International re-committed to an earlier pledge to stop clearing forests for new plantations by the end of 2014. The company also pledged to double its forest restoration program to 40,000 hectares and use 100% plantation fiber by the end of 2019.