Paper & Recycling Facts

 

  • Paper and paperboard constituted the largest portion of the U.S. municipal solid waste stream in 1994, representing 38.9% of the total waste by weight.

Source: Environmental Health and Safety Online

 

  • Recycling paper uses 60% less energy than manufacturing virgin timber paper.

Source: “1996 Statistics, Data Through 1995.” American Forest and Paper Association. November 1996. Pg. 2

 

  • North Americans consume 323 kg per capita of paper products, Europe consumed 125 kg, Asia consumed 28 kg, Latin America consumed 36 kg, Australia consumed 322 kg, and Africa consumed 6 kg. The world’s per capita consumption was 53.8 kg in 2000.

Source: The Bureau of International Recycling, World Consumption 2000

 

  • “If offices throughout the US increased the rate of two-sided photocopying from the 1991 figure of 20% to 60%, they could save the equivalent of about 15 million trees.”

Source: Choose to Reuse by Nikki & David Goldbeck, 1995, Earth 911 2004

 

  • The average American attorney uses one ton of paper every year.

Source: Waste Reduction is a Smart Business Decision, Onondaga Resource Recovery Agency, 1998

 

  • Recycling one ton of paper saves 682.5 gallons of oil, 7,000 gallons of water, and 3.3 cubic yards of landfill space.

Source: Waste Reduction is a Smart Business Decision, Onondaga Resource Recovery Agency, 1998

 

  • The US uses approx. 68 million trees each year to produce 17 billion catalogs and 65 billion pieces of direct mail.

Source: American Forest and Paper Association

 

  • 115 billion sheets of paper are used annually for personal computers.

Source: Worldwatch Institute

 

  • The average American uses more than 748 pounds of paper per year.

Source: American Forest and Paper Association

 

  • 3 cubic yards of landfill space can be saved by one ton of recycled paper.

Source: 50 Simple things you Can do to Save the Earth, Jodi B., Sudbury

 

  • 77 percent of paper is recycled in the Netherlands.

Source: Washington Post

 

  • 67 percent of paper is recycled in Germany.

Source: Worldwatch Institute

 

  • 52 percent of paper is recycled in Japan.

Source: Worldwatch Institute

 

  • 45 percent of paper is recycled in the U.S.

Source: Worldwatch Institute

 

  • Recycled paper requires 64% less energy than making paper from virgin wood pulp.

Source: Energy Educators of Ontario, 1993

 

  • Every ton of recycled paper saves about 17 trees.

Source: Purdue Research Foundation and US Environmental Protection Agency, 1996

 

  • The average American uses 18 cubic feet of wood and 749 pounds of paper – equal to a 100-foot tree with an 18-inch trunk – each year.

Source: American Forest & Paper Association, 2004

 

  • Nearly 81.3 million tons of paper and paperboard waste was generated in the U.S. in 1994.

Source: Environmental Health and Safety Online

 

  • Americans discard 4 million tons of office paper every year – enough to build a 12-foot high wall of paper from New York to California.

Source: American Forest & Paper Association, 2004

 

  • It takes 75,000 trees to print a Sunday Edition of the New York Times.

Source: North Carolina Office of Waste Reduction and Recycling

 

  • Recovered paper is used to make a variety of products, including copier paper, paper towels and napkins, corrugated boxes, and hydraulic mulch.

Source: Environmental Health and Safety Online

 

  • Recycling one ton of paper saves 682.5 gallons of oil, 7,000 gallons of water, and 3.3 cubic yards of landfill space.

Source: Waste Reduction is a Smart Business Decision, Onondaga Resource Recovery Agency, 1998

 

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