Facts about Paper – and its Impact on the Environment
Recycling or not using one ton of paper saves:
- 17 trees (35’ tall)
- 2 barrels of oil (enough to run the average car for 1,260 miles)
- 4,100 kilowatts of energy (enough power for the average home for 6 months)
- 3.2 cubic yards of landfill space (the same as one family-size pickup truck)
- 60 pounds of air pollution (Trash to Cash, 1996)
OTHER FACTS
- One-third of all trees logged are used for paper production.
- Producing one ton of paper requires two to three times its weight in trees.
- The pulp and paper industry is the world’s fifth largest industrial consumer of energy and uses more water to produce a ton of product than any other industry.
- The United States produces and uses a third of the world’s paper.
- Global paper consumption is expected to double in 15 years. (New Leaf Paper, 2001)
- The item most frequently encountered in municipal solid waste (MSW) landfills is paper - on average, it accounts for more than 40 percent of a landfill’s content.
- Twenty years ago, the average old-growth tree harvested from our National forests was 24 inches diameter. Today, the average is 14.3 inches.
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