Great News About Paper Recycling

I could hardly contain myself when I hear the great news about paper recycling the other day. I started my happy dance before Mom could even finish reading me the news. Hooray! I couldn't help it. Great recycling news makes me dance!

We recycle all the paper we can. I always hear Mom saying to Dad "That can be recycled" when he goes near the garbage can. Is this a case of old habits dying hard or just a lack of knowledge on Dad's part? Hmmm. I'm guessing the former because if anyone knows about recycling it's Dad. Years of listening to Mom talk recycling, reusing, reducing, precycling, etc. have impacted him in a good way. He is more conscious of what he throws in the garbage and this makes Mom and I very happy.

Now for the great news. The American Forest & Paper Association reports that in 2008, a record high 57.4% of the paper consumed in the U.S. was recovered for recycling. How cool is that? People are really starting to take action in this arena. Paper that would otherwise end up in landfills is turning up in recycling bins all over the country. So how much is 57.4% of the paper consumed? Would you believe that amounts to 340 pounds of paper recycled for every person in America? Yikes! Thinking about you guys consuming that much paper makes me shudder. Why are you consuming so much?

Not only are we making great strides with paper recycling but we're doing it big. 57.4% is up from 56% in 2007 and 53% in 2006. According to paperrecycles.org, the paper industry hopes to recover 60% of the paper Americans consume by 2012. Lofty goal or totally doable? I say totally doable, but only if everyone does their part. PIAC states that 86% of Americans have access to curbside or drop-off paper recycling programs. If you don't have access to either, please ask a friend that has access to recycle your paper.

Paper recovery rates have risen almost every year since 1993. I'm not sure what happened in 1997, 1999, 2002, and 2004 when they didn't rise, but these slight decreases were met with increases the following year.

But what happens to all the paper we recycle? According to the Paper Industry Association Council (PIAC), two-thirds of it is used domestically, with containerboard accounting for the largest end-use with 31%. This domestic usage is great to hear because shipped anything overseas leaves creates a big carbon footprint. Not that using it domestically is carbon neutral but we need to recover and use all that we can on our shores in order to keep the footprint as low as possible.

PIAC also adds that in 2008, over 80% of cardboard containers were recovered for recycling. There aren't many reasons why cardboard can't be recycled. As long as it isn't wet from liquids or stained from food (think pizza boxes) it can go in the recycling bin. Mom hates it that most pizza boxes end up in landfills because they can be added to compost bins.

The global recession has affected paper recycling just like every other business. There was a sharp decline in demand for recycled paper which resulted in decreases in consumption and overall tons recovered. Whose to say what the long term impact of the slowdowns will be as the economy rebounds.

The message here is, as it always is with recyclables, is to close the loop. We must create the demand by purchasing recycled content paper goods. The higher the post-consumer content the better. We must also seek out items that contain recycled content where previously only virgin content was used. I'm talking about books, magazines, etc. We can even encourage manufacturers to use recycled content. We speak volumes with our shopping dollars aka the Big Green Purse.

It's our responsibility to get to 60% by 2012. Will you do your part to make it happen?