You must have heard that recycling paper is beneficial for the environment since it helps save trees and conserve our natural resources. But did you ever wonder just how significant the impact of recycling really is?
To give you a rough estimate, for every tonne of paper recycled, we save at least 30,000 litres of water, 3000-4000 KWh of electricity, 1400 litres of oil and lower the contribution to air pollution! When compared to the production of virgin paper, the manufacture of recycled paper uses 60-70% less energy, reduces water pollution by about 35% and eliminates many toxic pollutants. Doesn’t that astound you?
There are some more fun facts about why recycling paper is important and here are just a few of them to help you paint the picture:
1. One tonne of recycled paper saves 17 trees. Every tree produces enough oxygen for 3 people to breathe throughout their lifetime!
2. 26% of all the waste that goes into landfills is paper. This presents a huge opportunity. Recycling every tonne of paper and its products will save 2.5 cubic metres of landfill space. If every person is committed to recycling paper, the size of the landfills can be reduced by almost a quarter of their current volume!
3. Between 2001 and 2019, nearly 386 million hectares of forest cover was lost globally, which represents almost a 10% decrease in tree cover in about 20 years!
4. Around 35% of the trees that are cut down are used to make virgin paper. This means that a whopping 160,000 sq.km. of forests are chopped down every year to meet the global paper needs!
5. And an astonishing 1 billion trees worth of paper is thrown away each year instead of getting recycled!
6. An approximate 199 tonnes of paper is produced every 15 seconds across the world. And nearly 93% of the paper across the world comes from trees, that is, virgin paper.
7. Despite digitisation, the demand for paper is expected to double by 2030!
8. An average person uses about 317 kg of paper each year.
9. About 50% of the office waste is composed of paper. An average office worker generates around 1 kg of paper and paperboard waste per day.
10. The high-grade white paper comprises most of the paper waste. It is also the one that requires most trees to produce.
11. Recycling provides a second life to paper. Office paper can be repurposed as paper towels, toilet paper and tissue paper.
12. The first recorded instance of paper recycling was in Japan in 1031.
13. During World War II, many nations adopted paper recycling campaigns that were helpful in funding their war efforts.
14. Every Sunday, nearly 90% of newspapers are thrown away in Britain. This is equivalent to throwing half a million trees into landfills!
15. The global consumption of toilet paper is about 42 million tonnes per year which requires 712 million trees, 1165 million tonnes of water and 78 million tonnes of oil in its production. This amount of paper, if laid out, would be roughly the same as 50,000 times the circumference of Earth!
Paper is a convenient resource that helps in simplifying our everyday life – be it toilet paper or printing paper. But with the climate crisis, it is imperative that each of us contributes to the preservation of our natural resources, making adoption of sustainable practices the need of the hour!
In that spirit, play your part in saving the planet and switch to Rescript’s 100% recycled paper today! Shop now!
