According to Pichtel (2005), unwanted materials in the recycled process can affect in a negative way the outcomes of the recycle process and can be hazardous to workers. In addition, some industries will not accept low levels of contamination and some other industries just remove foreign material. Contamination affects the quality and recyclability of products since unwanted materials can damage the products. Recycled Paper- According to Pichtel (2005), “Paper products comprise by far the majority of the municipal solid waste stream-about 38% of U.S MSW" p.131. Contamination in recycled paper is terrible since financial issues could arise, since more money would need to be used in order to make more paper and the health and safety of employees could be at risk. When recycled paper is contaminated is when the paper is soiled with food, chemicals etc. This contamination does not help the environment since more trees would need to be planted. For example, according to Pichtel (2005), “Seventeen trees are required to produce 1 ton of paper". Furthermore, when paper is recycled toxic wastes are reduced since paper from scratch won't have to be produced. In order to reduce contamination in recycled paper, more awareness is needed. For example, in the US there are a lot people from different countries. Some of these countries do not have recycle programs, so these people are not aware of the consequences of mixing paper with food and other chemicals. The US is doing a good job
Paper recycling, on the other hand has been around for much longer. Pulp and paper plants in Canada have been using recycled material for more than 60 years (Bourdages, 1993, para. 4). One of the most obvious environmental benefits of using recycled paper materials, is that it will help to reduce the amount of trees being cut down for production of new paper. Overall, it is evident that there is an established recycling effort in Canada, featuring both positive and negative aspects.
Each year we use 13 billion pounds of tissue paper and towels. Most of it is not recycled and goes into the landfills.
Opting for paper instead of plastic when one is able can be a great start. All over the world more places are gradually shifting to paper bags and banning plastic ones. California being one of the first states to recognize a plastic bag ban has the potential for lasting impacts given that in the Los Angeles area alone, 10 metric tons of plastic fragments are carried into the Pacific Ocean every day (Harth Richard). As more studies are being conducted and more information is being made public about the detrimental effects humanities over-consumption of plastic is having, some scientists are making attempts to make plastic safer and more sustainable. Some innovators are developing bioplastics, which are made from plant crops instead of fossil fuels. Others are working to make plastic truly biodegradable and some are looking for ways to make recycling more efficient (The History and the Future of
The value of recycling paper in a consumer society is the saving of natural resources which would be for each tonne of recycled paper saves 17 trees, 380 gallons of oil, 3 cubic yards of landfill space, 4,000 kilowatts of energy and 7,000 gallons of water. Again there would be the ecological value of less landfill space consumed.
The biggest source of waste is paper, every time a letter is opened, the envelope is thrown away, and when printing goes wrong the paper is thrown away. Ink cartridges from printers and photocopiers are thrown away when empty, as are multiple pens when they run out of ink.
The benefit of recycling on the environment is endless even if you are just recycling paper products it can be beneficial. According to a website on recycling paper and other products recycling a single run of the Sunday “New York Times” would save seventy five thousand trees. The amount of wasted land that is left behind by those seventy thousand trees. could have been a strong environment that was destroyed just for a single run of the “New York Times”. According to the same source recycling plastic saves twice as much energy as burning it in an incinerator. This energy used to burn the plastic is payed by the American people’s tax dollar that money could be saved by you just by simpling recycling. In the same source it says that approximately one billion trees worth of paper are thrown away every year in the United States this paper thrown away is sent to these giant landfills and cost millions of dollars to dispose of as where if it was recycled we could save money by not having to pay for the paper sent to landfill and save money by not having to have it burned down or stored. The average American uses eighty five million tons of paper a year; about six hundred and eighty pounds per person according to the source earlier
This site is very helpful because it allows the reader and consumer to understand the reason why it’s important to save paper and its effects in the environment. The following is an excerpt from the article, “The average American office worker uses close to 10,000 sheets of paper a year, for a total of 27 pounds each. Worldwide, more than 300 million tons of paper are produced each year, consuming 300 million forested acres and requiring
This report the audience intended consists of external business, customers and regulators. This report highlights the contrast between virgin and recycled paper which would help the customers to choose the one which is more environmentally friendly. It also gives regulators an opportunity to see areas in paper
There a lot of reasons why recycling is important in our community and especially at schools, hospitals, and in households. The success of a recycling depends on the active and continuous participation of people with the correct separation and collection of recyclable waste. Recycling is something that everyone can all do. Children that are school age and older can help out too. The goal is to stop tossing out items that can be use again and again. Recycling in schools help to improve the environment and can reduce money spent by the school on waste disposal. Paper is the main form of waste created by schools, making up
The papermaking process is complicated and has far-reaching environmental impacts further than the simple paper production process, which itself is toxic, resource intensive, and uses chemicals and pollutants that generates major health issues and environmental degradation. Metaphorically speaking, the deforestation is required to obtain paper pulp and the disposal of paper waste products are major contributors to greenhouse gas emissions.
These days, our earth has been filled by a lot of waste. There is a lot of garbage, plastic waste, and electronic waste. We always produce it and dump it when we need the new one. Our waste are piling up and continuously accumulating. Plastic waste is one of the biggest problems for us now. And our solution in this problem is recycling. In my opinion, recycling is a way to manage used items into new products. We can reduce, reuse, and recycling (3R) waste management (Peter, 2013). We can reduce our waste clothes with reuse it. There are some reasons why peoples recycle used or unwanted items, which are, prevent wasting unusable materials that still have usage after recycled, reduce the application of raw materials, reduce energy
The destruction of forests can be extremely detrimental to plant life and animal habitats. The acceleration of global warming is one byproduct of eliminating forestry. The production of paper can also lead to adverse effects in our water supply. Large amounts of water are used in paper production, which leads to the lowering of water levels that threaten the fish population. Gases (such as those formed by Greenhouses) are emitted into the atmosphere everyday due to the huge consumption of oil and electricity. A poisonous chemical, such as chlorine, used in the bleaching process is added to help whiten paper and is released into our environment (e.g., Hoekstra et al., 2010. p.247).
air and land pollution. By recycling, we can lessen the waste materials that are placed into
We remake most of our paper products by recycling them and making them reusable, so we don 't cut down as many trees.
There are billions of people struggling every day to have enough to eat, and billions of tons of food being tossed in the garbage, food waste is gaining increasing awareness as a serious environmental and economic issue. Research shows that about 60 million metric tons of food is wasted a year in the United States, with an estimated value of $162 billion. About 32 million tons of it end up in landfills, at a cost of about $1.5 billion a year to local government this economic crisis is worldwide! My research estimates that a third of all the food produced in the world is never consumed, and the total cost of that food waste could be as high as $400 billion a year. The food discarded by retailers and consumers in the most developed countries would be more than enough to feed all of the world’s hungry people, but it is not just those countries that have problems with food waste, it is also an issue in African countries like South Africa. The problem is expected to grow worse as the world’s population increases, unless actions are taken to reduce the waste. Food waste is not only a social cost, but it contributes to growing environmental problems like global warming, experts say, with the production of food consuming vast quantities of water, fertilizer and land. The fuel that is burned to process, refrigerate and transport it also adds to the environmental cost. Most food waste is thrown away in landfills, where it decomposes and emits methane, a potent