Paper Industry Celebrates Recycling Success on America Recycles Day

In recognition of America Recycles Day this past Tuesday (November 15), the AF&PA, Washington, D.C., USA, reported several key recycling milestones in the paper recycling arena. These accomplishments include:

In 2010, 87% of Americans (268 million) had access to curbside and/or drop-off paper recycling programs
With a 63.5% recovery for recycling rate in 2010, more paper is recycled than glass, plastic, and aluminum combined
Enough paper was recovered for recycling in 2010 to fill 124 Empire State buildings, which is roughly 334 lb for each man, woman, and child in the country
Paper recycling saves 3.3 cubic yards of landfill space per ton of paper recovered for recycling
Since 1990, the paper recovery rate for recycling has nearly doubled.

The U.S. paper industry has set a goal to increase the paper recovery rate to more than 70% by 2020. More information about paper recycling, including statistics, educational materials, and a free guide to starting a paper recycling program, is available online.

TAPPI
http://www.tappi.org/