While most of it cannot be recycled (paper towels and tissues) they can be composted. By recycling the rest of the paper materials, we are helping to reduce the impact we have on the world’s forest, water, and air quality.
The United States Environmental Protection Agency? (EPA) has found that recycling causes 35% less water pollution and 74% less air pollution than making virgin paper. Recycling one ton of newsprint saves about 1 ton of wood while recycling 1 ton of printing or copier paper saves slightly more than 2 tons of wood. It has been estimated that recycling half the world’s paper would avoid the harvesting of 20 million acres (81,000 km²) of forestland.
Now that Santa Fe accepts more paper items for recycling, we recommend that you do some of the following reduce the windblown litter that can happen when loose paper is placed into recycling bins.
Some ideas include:
Capital Scrap Metals Inc. (cardboard only)
1162 Cooks Lane, Santa Fe
Rethink your paper options before you toss!
Some food soiled paper goods can be composted or vermicomposted (worm composted) like: paper plates, napkins, paper towels, tissues, pizza boxes. See our Backyard Composting section for more information.
Pre-consumer waste is material which left the paper mill but was discarded before it was ready for consumer use. This is usually the case when products are made out of paper, like greeting cards and paper bags. Post-consumer waste is when the greeting card or paper bag is discarded after it has been used.
Don’t just recycle, but buy recycled products too! By buying recycled paper, you are not only supporting the efforts of recycling but you are reducing the use of raw materials (in this case virgin trees), energy usage, air pollution from incineration, and water pollution from landfilling.