Benefits of recycling
Benefits of recycling
Did you know that recycling
- Reduces the amount of waste sent to landfills and incinerators
- Conserves natural resources such as timber, water, and minerals
- Prevents pollution by reducing the need to collect new raw materials
- Saves energy
- Reduces greenhouse gas emissions that contribute to global climate change
- Helps sustain the environment for future generations
- Helps create new jobs in the recycling and manufacturing industries
Formula to calculate environmental saving for recycled paper & cardboard - 1kg
 |
x | 0.013 | = | 1 tree |
 |
x | 0.0025 | = | 1 Barrel of oil |
 |
x | 4.1 | = | Kilowatts of electricity (1366 kw is the average use per month for a home) |
 |
x | 31.78 | = | Litres of water saved (1 average back yard swimming pool = 21187) |
 |
x | 0.004 | = | 1 Cubic metres of landfill |
 |
x | 3 | = | 1 kilograms of carbon dioxide |
Sources
- The reduction in paper use is based on the following conservative estimates: page savings will only be realized for
approximately 50% of documents (a 1.5 page paper would gain no reduction in paper use for margin reductions), 50% of
paper is used for printing or photocopying printed documents, and 19% more area available with 0.75” margins. Thus the total
reduction in paper use is 0.50x0.50x0.19 = 4.75%. Mueller Policy Paper #1: Reduce Standard Margin Settings. - www.conservatree.com: Claudia Thompson, in her book Recycled Papers: The Essential Guide (Cambridge, MA: MIT
Press, 1992), reports on an estimate calculated by Tom Soder, then a graduate student in the Pulp and Paper Technology
Program at the University of Maine. He calculated that, based on a mixture of softwoods and hardwoods 40 feet tall and 6-8
inches in diameter, it would take a rough average of 24 trees to produce a ton of printing and writing paper, using the kraft
chemical (freesheet) pulping process. [URL: http://www.conservatree.com/learn/EnviroIssues/TreeStats.shtml] - The State of the Paper Industry: Monitoring the Indicators of Environmental Performance. A collaborative report by the
Steering Committee of the Environmental Paper Network Environmental impact estimates were made using the Environmental
Defense Paper Calculator. For more information visit http://www.papercalculator.org. - Environmental impact estimates were made using the Environmental Defence Paper Calculator. For more information
visit http://www.papercalculator.org. - Resource Information Systems, Inc., RISI Long-Term Pulp and Paper Reviews. RISI: Bedford, MA, July 1995, p. 52.
- Abromovitz and Mattoon, Worldwatch Paper: Paper Cuts, p. 20, 1999
- OECD Environmental Outlook, p. 218
- "Paper Efficiency…What it is and how to achieve it," Bruce Nordman, www.rethinkpaper.org
- "Clean Technologies in U.S. Industries: Focus on the Pulp and Paper Industry." United States-Asia Environmental
Partnership (Washington, D.C.: September 1997) - a: Assumes that a typical new wood frame home uses 15,000 board-feet. b: Assumes the flow through the Bridal Veil,
American and Horseshoe Falls at Niagara Falls is 750,000 gallons/second. c: Assumes the average household uses 104 million
BTUs of energy each year. d: Assumes an average driving distance of 200 miles per week.
Source: http://www.environmentaldefense.org/documents/2860_Citigroup_CopyPaper.pdf. - www.environmentalpaper.org/stateofthepaperindustry.
- Greenprint: http://www.printgreener.com/earthday.htm
*Calculations are based on averages and estimates ascertained from ntrs
