Wisdom of the Week
| Recycled Paper Benefits |
6/21/2010 There are lots of reasons to use recycled paper in our offices and homes. Besides preserving forests and habitats, using recycled paper also reduces energy use, greenhouse gases and landfill waste. Recyled paper uses up to 70% less energy and 55% less water than paper made of virgin pulp. 80% of paper that is not recycled ends up in landfill, and as it decomposes if produces methane, a green house gas with 21 times the heat-trapping capacity of carbon dioxide. Thankfully there are many recycled paper choices available on the market, including 100% post consumer which means no new virgin pulp is used to create the paper. If you are curious about how your office paper stacks up against other papers or if you want to know the environmental impact of different recycled contents, check out this paper calculator from the Environmental Defense Fund. Our office uses 100% post consumer recycled paper for all our printer, copier and fax needs. The EDF paper calculator estimates that for every 100 pounds of 100% post consumer paper our office uses we contribute to zero new wood harvest, save 1 million BTU's of energy, reduce our greenhouse gases by 171 lbs of CO2 equivalent, save 519 gallons of wastewater adn 59 pounds of solid waste. |