Paper Facts

Paper is a single sheet of a thin material, produced by pressing together moist fibers, typically cellulose pulp, mainly derived from wood, rags and grasses processed in to flexible sheets or rolls by deposit from an aqueous suspension, and commonly used for writing and printing. Paper is important to mankind, because it enabled written communications to be easily copied and stored, and widely used for manufacturing and various of industries, from packaging material to daily necessities.

Due to the importance's of paper, human has over exploited forests and damaging the balanced ecological environment, just for the sake of conveniences. Here are some of the paper facts for reference.

     - Recycling half of the world's paper would free 20 million acres of forest land.
    - Recycling one stack of newspapers about 6 feet tall saves the life of one tree 35 feet tall. Recycling approximately 1 ton of newspaper saves 17 trees.
     - The EPA has found that making paper from recycled materials results in 74% less air pollution and 35% less water pollution. This means that every ton of recycled paper keeps almost 60 pounds of populations out of the atmosphere that would have been produced if the paper had been manufactured from virgin resources. 
    - Every ton of recycled paper saves approximately 4 barrels of oil, 4,200 kilowatt hours of energy.

   - Recycled paper is made to the same standards as paper made from virgin pulp. Moreover, recycled paper has features which make it more desirable than virgin paper, such as being more opaque, dense, and flexible.  
    - Paper plus cardboard combined make up 73% of the materials in the landfill.   
    - Making a ton of virgin paper requires 3,688 lbs. of wood, 24,000 gallons of water, 216 lbs. of lime, 360 lbs. of salt cake and 76 lbs. of soda ash. We then have to treat and dispose of 84 lbs. of air pollutants, 36 lbs. of water pollutants and 176 lbs. Of solid waste.

The production and use of paper has a number of adverse effects on the environment. Worldwide consumption of paper has risen by 400% in the past 40 years leading to increase in deforestation, with 35% of harvested trees being used for paper manufacture. Logging of old growth forests accounts for less than 10% of wood pulp, but is one of the most controversial issues.

Conventional bleaching of wood pulp using elemental chlorine produces and releases into the environment large amounts of chlorinated organic compounds, including chlorinated dioxins. Dioxins are recognized as a persistent environmental pollutant, regulated internationally by the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants. Dioxins are highly toxic, and health effects on humans include reproductive, developmental, immune and hormonal problems. They are known to be carcinogenic. Over 90% of human exposure is through food, primarily meat, dairy, fish and shellfish, as dioxins accumulate in the food chain in the fatty tissue of animals.

Some manufacturers have started using a new, significantly more environmentally friendly alternative to expanded plastic packaging made out of paper, known commercially as paperfoam. The packaging has very similar mechanical properties to some expanded plastic packaging, but is biodegradable and can also be recycled with ordinary paper.

Adopted sources : Wikipedia.org and www3.niu.edu