I have recently heard someone say that recycled paper produces just as much environmental issues as virgin paper products. I'm sure that this isn't a surprise but I haven't found much to support that. I did find a relatively decent summary of the environmental impact of recycled paper vs virgin paper. While its clear that recycled paper is still not environmentally neutral it leaves less impact that cutting down more trees. It is however still more expensive. So if more paper is recycled by consumers this brings down the material cost even more for recycled paper making it more competitive.
I did find a wikipedia entry on recycling criticism but the arguments seem pretty weak and not as well referenced.
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So paper production costs energy and produces waster products, whether it's virigin or recycled. Even if making recycled paper were just as bad in these departments (which it does not appear to be) the only difference remain that it does require cutting down new trees, which seems kind of pointless with all the recyclable waste we produce.
Looks like my pile of unread scientific papers.
Except that I won't recycle them, no siree. One second after I ditch a paper, I suddenly realise I need it.
Recycling paper has another advantage that we should think about: it generates more jobs! It not only helps the environment, but helps our fellows!
I may be wrong, but I think people that recycle are a bit like the cotton producers: they introduce some raw material into production circle, producing in this way more jobs.
The argument that making new paper needlessly wastes trees falls once you realize that paper is almost exclusively made from paper farms, where trees are grown specifically for the purposes of creating paper, and are replaced as soon as they are cut down.
The notion of jobs is an interesting one, until you consider that paper mills employ people too. If recycling mills did not exist, paper mills would have a higher demand, and thus be able to support more employees.
I'm not saying that recycling paper is bad, but so far I have seen no evidence that it is any better than simply tossing it in the trash.
I don't get this. Today we grow trees, especially they are supposed to go to paper. So a tree is a renewable resources, since they always plant new ones, when they cut them.
The reason why we started using recycled paper, was because the paper in the 80s/90s was bleached with very dangerous chemicals, but in the western world they have changed the methods.
Isn't it better if try to make the paper industry more environmental, instead making more pollution?
Though it does make some wastes, it is good to see more recycling getting done. I've joined the bandwagon myself now that I get my paper shredding and recycling done by http://www.opsus.com. It's cool to know more people are jumping on.
I think that recycling paper or whatever that you are recycling is good, I dont know the exact process they do to recycle, but the effort for a clean environment is awesome, too bad not all of are doing it.
Approximately 1 billion trees worth of paper are thrown away every year in the U.S. People should be aware that there are deforestation is a bad issue to earth and we must always know its consequences.
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