I have a strong suspicion all USPCC decks are like the Eco deck. It's not hard to believe that they will use environmentally friendly materials to make their cards. The Eco deck touts being biodegradable, but all the USPCC decks are. It says it's recyclable, but last I checked all paper goods can be recycled regardless of finish.
I'd say that they are like but not the same as Eco.
Lets compare a normal bike deck with Eco. Both can be recycled and both are biodegradable BUT the Eco deck will naturally decay and breakdown faster than the Bike deck would due to the material it is made of.
Actually, gentlemen, I think that it's possible there is an issue with recycling ordinary playing cards such as USPC's decks. While the paper in the product will deteriorate over time, the chemicals used in the inks and the laminates may not be so easily recycled, or environmentally friendly, for that matter. It's the reason why, slowly but surely, all paper manufacturers and printers are shifting to chemicals that are naturally occurring in the environment or that can break down into non-toxic components.
As far as recycled paper, there was a blog post about this on E. As time goes on, more and more paper mills are using recycled content to supplement the natural wood fibers - and in gradually increasing percentages. On the one hand, it's great that we're cutting down fewer trees and preventing the downfall of our habitable environment. But on the other hand, the recycled content has fewer of the long, natural fibers used to make heavier stocks such as the paper used in playing cards. Combine that with how the recycled content can come from anywhere and consist of a wide variety of pulps, and it increases the inconsistency and durability of paper batches, with the next generation's papers expected to be worse than the current on an indefinite basis.
There's some research taking place with using a certain amount of recycled and recyclable plastics in the composition of paper, much like how a high grade of paper will have cotton and/or linen content. US paper currency is 75% cotton, 25% linen - zero wood pulp. Some countries are experimenting with plastics in their bills to improve durability and reduce the number of trees needed to make them. I'm pretty sure that some of the research has been extended into the playing card industry in trying to find a paper/plastic blend that improves the durability and the quality of the paper, thus improving their products.
Wow, did we get off-topic here, folks...
