Big Paper's environmental spin

You may have noticed that the big paper companies are spending a lot of energy touting their commitment to the environment. We hope their spin on "Green Power"- electricity generated by windmills - is more than just a lot of hot air.

Water has powered the French Paper Co. mill for almost 100 years

We depended upon clean energy half a century before it was PC or made good PR. Renewable energy is part of our foundation, literally. In 1922 my great grandfather J. E. French installed a hydroelectric generator in the river at the base of our mill. Back then, it just made good sense.

The generator powers our mill today as it did 84 years ago. It also provides surplus electricity to our local energy company (maybe some of the "green" credits the other mills claim to buy). And the water that our processors use is returned to the St. Joe River cleaner than when it came in.

Rest assured that you can buy any color, any weight, any sheet size, in any grade of paper from French and it was manufactured with 100% clean, renewable hydroelectric energy produced right here at the mill.

"Environmentalism" is more than a marketing gimmick for us. It's part of our survival.

We pioneered recycled papers in 1953, but our belief in conservation runs deeper. As a small, family-owned paper company, it keeps us smart, efficient, and competitive - so you can depend on us to be around for another 135 years - independent, self-dependent, and under the French family name. We'll be using "Green Power" long after it makes good headlines. Maybe by then they'll just call it "common sense" unless that's become a scarce resource too.