Oren Cook, Home Schooled, Greenwich

What are the environmental effects of recycling paper?

In order to research the effects of recycling I looked in books from the Greenwich Central School Library and searched on the web. Contrary to my expectations the books were not useful, and the internet was. The internet had precise, accurate, and up to date information and the books have inaccurate, confusing, and outdated information.  Using this information I formed the following analysis of the environmental effects of recycling paper or, more importantly, of not recycling paper.

Effects of recycling paper

Recycling paper reduces pollution, oil and water use, saves trees and landfill space and uses much less energy than virgin paper production. For every ton of paper recycled 17 trees, 3.3 cubic yards of landfill space, three 380 gallons of oil and 4,000 kilowatts are saved (http://www.resourcefulschools.org/html/facts.html et al).  While this may not seem like much, it has a significant positive impact on the environment.   Recycled paper uses 55% less water, reduces water pollution by 35%, and air pollution by nearly75%. Recycling saves energy as well, reducing energy use by 60-70% (http://www.sutta.com/environmental.html). Recycling one ton of paper saves $990 per ton just on oil and electricity (http://www.resourcefulschools.org/html/facts.html).

One ton of paper is the equivalent of one small school recycling its paper for a year. If nine separate small schools each recycled one ton of paper each year, they would save 540 lbs of air pollution, 153 trees, 63,000 gallons of water, 3,420 gallons of oil, 36,000 kilowatts of electricity (for a combined savings on oil and electricity of $8,910),and 29.7 cubic yards of landfill space per year.

Effects of not recycling paper

If we do not recycle, the waste of our resources will continue, possibly driving up the costs of oil, definitely creating tons of easily preventable air and water pollution, and using thousands of kilowatts of unnecessary electricity.

What can you do?

With 95% of our native forests in the U.S., gone a change is in order (http://www.recycleworks.org/paper/paper_wbr.html). Recycling paper is only part of the effort needed to reduce the strain on environmental resources. Consumers must also purchase goods created from recycled materials in order to complete the circle. If consumers create a market for recycled goods, then recycling itself will become more cost effective, and the products will become cheaper.  Schools alone can create their own markets for recycled paper enabling them to save money and be environmentally friendly at the same time.