Why Buy Recycled Paper Products?

There was a time when the quality of recycled paper was not competitive with virgin fibre.  But this is no longer the case.  Recycled paper is now made to the same specifications as virgin paper in every grade with similar cost. 

Despite the apparent advantages of recycling there are still critics.  These people believe that the energy cost involved with the collection of old paper and production of recycled paper is higher than disposal in landfill and production of virgin paper.   Another observation that critics make is that trees are replanted thus the number of trees does not decrease.   Despite these points, recycling paper is beneficial to the environment for the following reasons:

• 30% less water is required in the production of recycled paper;
• An efficient recycling program will consume less energy to produce recycled paper than virgin paper;
• Paper represents 38% of America's municipal solid waste stream.  Less waste means existing landfill sites can be used longer.
• Logging companies replace diversified forests with single-species trees resulting in loss of biodiversity.
• Multiple replanting cycles causes the soil to degrade. 
• Use of fertilizer for tree planting results in environmental issues including water pollution and substantial greenhouse gas emissions.

When buying recycled paper you should always verify that the amount of "post-consumer" recycled fiber content is specified.   Post-consumer fiber has been collected through recycling programs.

Manufacturers sometimes use "pre-consumer" recycled fiber consisting of processing scrap generated during production process.  Pre-consumer wastes have been recycled for many years and manufacturers should not claim credit for recycling pre-consumer waste.