Paper should be recycled!
Approximately 60% of our landfills in the United States are made up of disposed waste paper. We waste away a lot of paper, which we either dump or burn at a considerable cost in terms of money and health. With a little preparation, we can quickly cease manufacturing paper trash. Make sure you recycle and buy paper items that are environmentally friendly.
Use Paper That Has Been Recycled!
Instead of using virgin paper, why not use recycled paper? Recycled paper prints well, has the same appearance, smell, and feel as virgin paper. Recycled papers operate well in laser printers and contribute to the reduction of solid waste. Furthermore, they are nearly identical in price, and you may feel good about using them since recycled paper conserves forest resources, conserves energy, produces less hazardous bi-products, and helps to extend the life of our overburdened landfills. Each year, the average American consumes more than 730 pounds of paper, the equivalent of chopping down nine large trees.
Because of the public price of incinerating and land filling solid waste, as well as the incalculable costs to the environment and human health, virgin paper manufacture costs more in the long term. Paper mills can produce recycled paper at reduced rates as demand for recycled paper grows. Paper made from recycled stock uses 60% less energy than paper made from virgin resources. A tonne of virgin paper requires around 20 trees and 7,000 more gallons of water than a tonne of 100 percent recycled paper.
Paper is frequently bleached with chlorine. This process produces dioxins and furans, which are hazardous compounds that damage our air, water, and land. Dioxins are fat-soluble and may be found in foods including meat, dairy products, and mother’s milk. Dioxins are human carcinogens that cause an undetermined number of cancer cases. Immunological abnormalities, prenatal development issues, and reproductive impairment have all been related to dioxins. Dioxins can be released downstream from pulp and paper mills, as well as through industrial air pollutants.
I’m not sure which recycled paper to use.
According to the Environmental Protection Agency, paper must include at least 30% post-consumer wastepaper content to be called recycled, despite the fact that there are numerous 100% post-consumer papers available today. End-user waste paper is the source of post-consumer material in paper, which is vital to recycle in order to decrease municipal solid waste. As a result, you should utilise recycled papers with as much post-consumer content as feasible. Consider using chlorine-free papers to prevent the production of dioxins. Coffee filters, toilet paper, napkins, paper towels, boxes, and other classic white paper items do not require white paper. Request that your local businesses and groups utilise unbleached, post-consumer, recycled paper!
Use paper that isn’t made from trees!
Hemp, cotton, kenaf, grasses, and cane fibres are used to make Tree Free papers, which are commonly combined with recycled paper pulp. Papers that are not made from trees are regarded to be particularly ecologically friendly. Tree-free papers are better for the environment since they take less energy to separate the fibre, are generally chlorine-free, and are pesticide-free. Unlike trees, which take 7 to 20 years to mature, tree-free plants can develop in as little as 10 weeks. Look for paper that is Processed Chlorine Free (PCF) and has at least 30% recycled material the next time you buy computer or typing paper. This paper is a cost-effective and ecologically beneficial alternative to chlorine-bleached virgin paper.
