Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada 14 August 2012 -- Straw-based copy paper with a reported 80% less forest fibre than traditional paper is now widely available to Canadian consumers, small businesses and home offices at Staples Canada.

The paper is designed and produced by Winnipeg-based Prairie Pulp & Paper Inc. Called Step Forward Paper(TM), it contains 80% straw from the leftover by-product of harvested wheat crops and 20% FSC-certified wood fibre.

According to Jeff Golfman, president of Prairie Pulp & Paper, Step Forward Paper is the first of its kind to be available to North American consumers. The paper is presently made at a mill in India. If Prairie Pulp & Paper can build a market for straw-based paper, the company plans to build a new state-of-the-art facility in Manitoba, “which will in turn enable us to produce this straw paper with an even smaller footprint," said Golfman.

Pete Gibel, vice-president of merchandising at Staples Canada, says paper made from leftover straw "produces high quality and performance that compares with other copy and printer papers."

Prairie Pulp & Paper Inc. is working in partnership with Canopy, a not-for-profit environmental organization with a goal of protecting forests by developing the North American straw paper industry.