Recycling. What's so great about it anyways?—Recycling Paper

Everyone says recycling is good for the environment. So how good for the environment is it, exactly?

Now let's talk about paper.
About one-third of an average household's waste is paper or any kind of paper product. It is reported that a staggering 14% of landfills space is taken up by newspaper alone. Keeping paper out of landfill sites is the most important reason why paper is recycled. Reducing the amount of paper going into landfills therefore slows down the pace that landfill sites are filling. In fact, if you recycled a ton of paper (2,000 lbs.), you'd save 17 TREES from being cut down to be used as paper. Now that's a lot!

So what are the benefits?
Well, other than slowing down the rates landfills fill up, you'll be helping the environment in several different ways. Decomposing paper releases methane, which is twenty times more potent than carbon dioxide as a greenhouse gas. You'll be putting a stop to global warming! Also, you'll be saving the environment from problems like chemical pollution, because recycled paper doesn't need to be re-bleached. That way, less chemicals are released into the environment. If recycled paper DOES need to be re-bleached, manufacturers use oxygen instead of chlorine, which still benefits. This reduces the amount of dioxins which are produced as a by-product of the chlorine bleaching processes.

Not only should you recycle paper, but you should buy recycled paper products as well. More and more companies are using recycled paper to replace using virgin raw materials (just harvested from natural resources). Processing virgin raw materials takes between 28%-40% more energy than recycled paper.

Look at all those benefits. How could you not want to recycle?

Even though we know you're super excited about recycling paper, take note that not all types of paper are recyclable. For example, it's a common misconception that construction paper is recyclable. It is not. Neither is handwriting paper, such as filler paper and notebook paper. However, most schools who participate in the Feed the Bin recycling program allow you to recycle handwriting paper. However, most curbside recycling does not allow you to recycle such paper. The Feed the Bin recycling program, however, does not allow construction paper to be recycled. This is because of the makeup of the construction paper makes it almost impossible to reprocess. Also, any paper with food residue or grease on it cannot be recycled, because the machine used to reprocess it could be damaged.

Those are the basics on recycling paper! Go get to it!

—Jaz