Will there be a rum shortage soon?

Sugar Cane based paper products are introduced.

I just learned that Emerald Brand is making paper plates and toilet paper using 70% - 100% less trees in their products. They are replacing wood pulp with sugar cane.

What??!! I immediately began to think that if this takes off, there could be a shortage of sugar cane – the main ingredient in rum! Will there be a shortage? What will we do without our daiquiris, rum ‘n cokes and mojitos this summer?

Relief washed over me when I kept reading and learned that the paper products where actually going to be made from the by-product of sugar cane juice pressing. Whew – it’s the juice that goes into the rum!

According to earth911.com, “Rather than using virgin or even recycled paper, the new products use Bagasse, the leftover residue from sugar cane juicing. Using Bagasse in new products reclaims an agricultural waste material and prevents the polluting gases created during Bagasse’s usual disposal – burning. It also takes less energy and fewer chemicals to produce Bagasse-products than it does to manufacture tree-based paper products.”

This is an excellent example of how we can rethink our production processes and see how we can leverage existing waste materials to create products, instead of negatively affecting our environment.

This change agent saves trees, reduces air pollutants and minimizes use of energy and chemicals – and doesn’t affect rum production. Cheers to all Ordinary Environmentalists who support products like this!