Tree-free paper: an unscientific review

This morning via FedEx I received something that could be significant – a special edition of the new issue of Clear, created for Design Miami. And it’s 100% Tree Free.

It feels and looks like a normal print magazine, but it’s not made from paper at all. This is the world’s first pulpless printed magazine, produced on premium synthetic paper by YUPO – a kind of polypropylene plastic already used for detergent labels, maps and menus.

How is it? Mighty strange.

It looks and feels like a normal issue of Clear. Semi-translucent cover, usual size, maybe slightly thicker paper. And then you put your nose to it, and smell it. Me, I’m a fresh ink junkie, but this smells vaguely… chemical, in a way I wasn’t expecting.

The pages feel like a usual glossy, extra-thick stock fashion/design mag, printed perhaps on 130gsm or thereabouts. Up close, the images aren’t incredibly crisp, but they’re more than usable, if a little dark at times – which could just as easily be a result of the pre-press (though there is a slight increase in dot gain on this type of material – see below).

It may feel normal, but the real fun comes when you put it to the test.

Test one: A splash of water

Oops, did I do that?

A quick wipe and it’s gone. I suspect witchcraft.

Test two: A 30-second bath

In she goes.

And out she comes, uncurled and wipe-cleanable. Following this, I noticed a tendency for pages to stick together slightly with the water, but you can prise them apart and wipe them dry without much trouble.

Test three: Sweet Mango Chutney

Mango chutney.

Sweet. A small dab of water removed all grease stains.

Test four: Let her rip

Try as I did, I couldn’t tear the thing. The best I got was a slight wrinkle. Pretty much passed all my tests – all that’s left is to ask Tom Dixon.

In other words, it looks like paper, feels like paper, acts like a kitchen counter. There are definitely certain kinds of magazine that would benefit from printing on this material – magazines designed to be read in bath, for instance, recipe magazines or those that will get a lot of use, such as inflight magazines. Also magazines that are designed to last a long, long time – I suspect there will be little yellowing and fading of colours in this over time, compared to the rest of my crumbling, acid-free paper-covered collection.

Although YUPO doesn’t quite claim that their paper is environmentally friendly, by using less water and no timber, they trumpet it as a greener alternative to paper pulp. However, being a category 5 polypropylene (PP) plastic film, presumably it needs oil to make it.

As a category 5, it can be recycled alongside your plastic bottles (though you may need to include an explanatory note to your local recycling plant), and to greater effect than paper, which suffers fibre shortening with each recycling. It also claims to be lighter than paper – so reducing shipping costs and carbon footprints related to shipping. As with everything green, there are many conflicting calculations to be made, and I’m not going to claim that this removes all of publishing’s room elephants.

It’s also not a simple substitution for paper – currently there is a stack of specific printing restrictions on using synthetic papers, including a 4-7% increased dot gain, limits on press speed, humidity and more, and YUPO’s papers require both special inks and much longer drying time than your normal magazine ink / paper combo. On the plus side, they do offer a version that works with HP Indigo printers, opening up the possibility of using it for POD and short-run pieces (just imagine the client’s face when you drop your magazine sample in their fish tank).

Overall, it’s a leftfield introduction to the marketplace, applicable in the main to a few very specific solutions. For now, the latest issue of Clear remains a technological curio – but one that hints towards a possible future for print that may also be print.

Details of where you can pick up copies of the limited-edition tree-free Clear magazine here.