Recycling helps us all.
If we want to save our natural resources like trees and water and help preserve our forests and streams for future generations, recycling is something we all need to get involved in. Greenhouse gases are becoming more of a problem, and 42 percent of U.S. greenhouse gases come from the production, consumption and waste of things like paper products, plastics, glass and chemicals. One recycled aluminum can saves enough energy to run your television for three hours, and though recycling has grown from 17 percent of people who recycle in 1991 to 30 percent in 2000, we still have a long way to go to actually see its impact on our planet.
Significance
Trees help keep our air clean.
Paper is a staple in our lives and recycling something we depend on so heavily just makes sense. Recycling just 1 ton of paper would save 17 trees, two barrels of oil, 4,100 kilowatts of energy, 3.2 cubic yards of landfill space and 60 pounds of air pollution. Trees help keep our planet clean since they breathe in carbon monoxide, one of the biggest factors contributing to greenhouse gases, and breathe out oxygen.
Effects
Recycling paper protects fragile ecosystems.
Reusing and recycling paper helps preserve our ecosystems and saves them and our planet for future generations. Producing products from recycled paper uses 60 to 70 percent less energy than virgin pulp and also uses less water; both of these are tremendous savings of resources. The more we make use of recycled paper, the more we reduce greenhouse gases and the fewer landfills we'll need to build.
Chlorine
Reuse and recycle paper.
The longstanding process of producing paper from trees is a very wasteful and harmful one. To harvest paper from trees requires the use of chlorine to remove the lignin, a complex chemical compound, from the wood. This process alone produces dioxins which are a known carcinogen. But recycled paper already has lignin removed, thus making the process much simpler and more cost effective, so making paper from paper is a lot kinder to the earth, saves landfill space and cuts manufacturing costs.
What You Can Do
If you're an average American, you will get 41 pounds of junk mail in a year. It makes no sense to destroy trees so that our mailboxes can be filled with paper we just toss in the trash. Put a stop to your junk mail and save our trees, which will at the same time cut down on the carbon monoxide. Go a step further and plant a tree, which will help protect our environment and preserve the habitats where much of our wildlife live.
The Facts
We use paper in school and work.
We can't live without paper products in our daily lives, and since paper is recyclable and renewable it just makes sense to recycle this precious resource. Every American uses at least seven trees a years in paper, wood and other products made from trees. This adds up to almost 2 billion trees per year. Our choice is simple: Either we can recycle paper and save our trees, or continue to waste them and endanger the future of our planet.
