Today, paper is the country's most recycled product; in fact, more paper is diverted from landfills for recycling than all other material combined.
Last year, 45% of all paper Americans used was recovered - a record 45 million tons!
More paper is now recovered in the United States than is sent to landfills.
Each American on average now recovers 336 pounds of paper for recycling-a 44% increase over 1990!
Just over one-third of all paper and paperboard recovered in the world is recovered in the United States.
Everyday enough paper is recovered in the United States to fill a train of boxcars 15 miles long.
Since 1988, US paper recovery has grown more than four times faster than the overall growth in US paperbaord consumption.
During this decade alone, US papermakers will have invested an estimated $10 billion in new recycling capacity.
Use of recovered paper at domestic mills during the 1990's has been growing more than twice as fast as the use of total fiber.
Recovered paper now provides more than 37% of the raw material fiber used at US mills - up from 25% in 1988.
Each ton of recycled paper produced saves:
- 17 trees
- 7,000 gallons of water
- 60 lbs. of Air Pollution
- 4,102 kwh of Electricity
- 3 cubic yards of landfill space