Unexpected Elements is all about finding the surprising science angles to everyday news.

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Hello, I'm Grace Livingstone. On today's Business Daily, we ask how green is the paper industry?

As concern about plastic waste grows, many companies have switched from plastic packaging to paper.

But what's the environmental impact of producing paper?

I've been to drought-stricken Uruguay,

where an enormous new pulp mill has just started operations.

This is a street protest in Montevideo.

People are banging plastic bottles and singing,

They're stealing the water from us.

They say multinationals and agri-business are using huge amounts of water

while people are running out of water to drink.

It's clear that we're not talking about the lack of water,

but how it's being used and by who? It's

extractivism, which means something that belongs to everyone, like water, that comes from other

earth, is being used to benefit a few. Uruguay's suffered its most severe drought ever this year,

leaving the main reservoir that provides drinking water to the capital

almost empty. For four months, the authorities took supply from a river estuary where seawater

mixes with fresh water, giving tap water a salty taste. People were buying bottled water for drinking

and even for cooking.

The protesters are angry about the water use of many industries, including

...