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Benefit of Paper Recycling Mills

According to The Recycler's Handbook, recycling half of the world's paper would mean saving 20 million acres of forestland. Paper recycling takes used paper and turns it into new paper products. By utilizing paper recycling mills, there are numerous benefits for people and the environment.

  1. Reduced Energy Consumption

    • The Bureau of International Recycling claims that energy consumption is reduced by 64 percent through recycling. This happens because making paper from scratch requires more energy compared with recycling mill methods that utilize recycled paper-pulp.

    Preventing Landfills

    • Using paper recycling mills helps to prevent landfills. Over 35 percent of municipal solid waste is composed of paper products. This translates to the elimination of 3 cubic meters of landfill every time a ton of newspaper is recycled. Organic materials---such as paper---decompose in landfills by releasing methane, which is a greenhouse gas that poses risks to the atmosphere.

    Reduced Water and Air Pollution

    • Industrialized paper making affects the environment when trees are cut down and processed into paper. Paper waste is also a prime contributor to harming the environment---land, air and water. Research by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has found that recycling paper results in 74 percent less air pollution and 35 percent less water pollution. Every ton of recycled paper saves the world's environment from 60 pounds of pollutants in the air.

    Recycling Saves Money

    • A well organized recycling paper mill is cheap to operate compared to other methods of garbage collection, like landfills and incineration---which are also harmful to the environment. Modern 'green' awareness programs have helped to increase recycling efforts by companies and individuals, as opposed to throwing paper away.

    Creation of Jobs

    • In the U.S. alone, recycling has created a total of 1.1 million jobs. Local recycling programs pay huge dividends; for every job created in collecting recyclables, 26 other jobs in processing the material and manufacturing new recycled products are created.

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