Recycled paper, new paper is everywhere, from books to posters and flyers. But what will happen to them after they are used and discarded?
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What is recycled paper?
Paper is created directly from wood pulp to create a variety of products such as carton paper, newspaper, exercise paper, …. Each type of paper has different properties, which will meet different needs in life. Because of its practical application, a huge amount of paper is produced every day in the world.
But along with that are the consequences that affect the environment because the raw material to create paper is wood pulp, but if you want to have wood pulp, you have to cut trees. Because of that, people have found other methods to create paper and reduce the impact on the environment.
That’s why the phrase “recycled paper” was born. Of course, to create paper, the best raw material is still wood pulp, but in parallel with it, used paper products are also a great source of raw materials to create new paper. Therefore, people have found ways to recycle used paper to save much more.
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Benefits of recycling paper
Paper recycling saves money
According to statistics, on average, for every one ton of paper recycled, we can save:
- 24 forest trees
- Nearly 4,000 kWh of electricity is enough to power a 3-bedroom house for 1 year;
- 605 liters of crude oil;
- Oxygen enough for 12 people to breathe for a year;
- 39,084 liters of water is enough for 875 baths, each 5 minutes, enough to use for 3,000 toilet flushes;
- Limiting an amount of CO2 equivalent to the emissions of 1 car for 6 weeks (95% reduction in pollutant emissions compared to the process of producing 01 ton of paper from wood).
Using recycled paper will save a lot of money and human resources for businesses and society, not to mention the environment is better protected. According to data from paperbag.org, European countries are the world leaders in the field of recycled paper:
- Paper recycling rate in European countries is 71.5%.
- Every second, 2 tons of paper are recycled.
- 59 million tons of paper are recycled every year
Conservation of natural forest trees
To meet the source of raw materials for paper production, natural forests were cut down continuously. When the demand is too high, people have to plant new forests and develop into production forests. But production forests, although growing rapidly, still do not provide a wild habitat and preserve biodiversity like natural forests.
Therefore, the recycling of paper will limit the use of forest wood, helping to protect the natural ecosystem with the following specific benefits:
- Reduce pressure to convert natural forests and areas such as swamps into production forests
- Preserve and limit the exploitation of forests
- Help preserve the full value that the forest ecosystem provides.
Paper recycling will reduce CO2 emissions
While young trees will absorb CO2 faster, older trees are able to store this gas more. If paper is recycled, it means that the number of old trees cut down will decrease, which will help more CO2 stored in the trees and reduce the amount of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere.
If paper is not recycled, it is buried and decomposed, it will form methane gas, causing the greenhouse effect, affecting the environment.
Paper recycling will reduce solid waste
Paper can be recycled up to 6 times before being buried or thrown away, thus reducing the amount of solid waste significantly compared to paper that is only used once. A sheet of A4 paper can be recycled into multi-purpose paper that plays many different roles such as paper boxes, food packaging, cartons, etc. At the same time, there is no need to take up extra space to handle paper landfills that will alternative to planting trees, increasing protection of soil and water resources.
Paper recycling will reduce waste water, improve water quality
Because the pulp production stage requires a lot of water, the larger the amount of paper, the more water is required. Besides, the amount of wastewater discharged when producing virgin pulp is also much more than paper recycling, not to mention the wastewater contains more toxins. Therefore, if we recycle paper, we will contribute to protecting the living environment for the aquatic ecosystem.