As ‘hippie’ as I try to be, recycling is someplace I continually fall short. I admit, right here, right now, I throw away returnable bottles, use paper plates more than washable ones, and toss magazines and newspapers in the same plastic garbage bag as everything else.
I’ve been thinking lately, that I should make an effort. I just haven’t actually made the first step. This article below was in our company newsletter (i added the image for effect) …
If you believe that life just wonÂ’t be the same without a hard copy of this weekÂ’s fascinating factoids about paper recycling, think about this:
Every year more than 900 million trees are cut down to provide raw materials for American paper and pulp mills.
Americans use more than 67 million tons of paper annually, which is about 580 pounds per person.
Every Sunday, Americans throw away 90 percent of recyclable newspapers, which wastes half a million trees.
Every day U.S. businesses generate enough paper to circle the earth 20 times.
Paper products make up the largest part —approximately 40 percent — of our trash.
There is good news, however (and it has nothing to do with saving money on your car insurance):A single tree can filter up to 60 pounds of pollutants from the air each year. Recycling just one ton of paper saves 17 trees (not to mention 380 gallons of oil, three cubic yards of landfill space, 4,000 kilowatts of energy and 7,000 gallons of water).
Making recycled paper uses 64 percent less energy and 58 percent less water than making new paper.
In 1990 we recycled 28 percent of the paper produced in the U.S.; by 2000, that number had increased to more than 45 percent.
Visit the Michigan Recycling Coalition or the Environmental Protection Agency web sites for more information on what you can do to help AmericaÂ’s recycling effort.
