Hobbies And Interests
Consumption
Manufacturers make paper from cellulose fibers found in wood. The average American uses about 465 trees worth of paper in their lifetime. Americans annually dispose of 30 million trees worth of newspaper.
Function
In 2009, about 63 percent of the paper used in the United States was recycled. Recycling one six-foot stack of newspapers saves a tree 35 feet tall. Every ton of recycled newspapers saves 17 trees.
Considerations
Paper can be recycled about seven times before its fibers are too degraded to be useful. In order to make effective products from recycled paper, paper mills must add "virgin" fibers to the paper-making process. The forest product industry plants about 1.7 million trees every day, about five trees for every tree harvested.
Buying Recycled
Putting your waste paper in the recycling bin is only part of the cycle. Buy recycled products. The greater demand for recycled products, the more recycled products manufacturers will create.