The Importance of Recycling Shredded Paper

We live in a society that consumes paper faster than we can grow trees.  Recycling shredded paper creates meaningful environmental savings all around.

One of the primary reasons we recycle is to conserve resources, and one of our largest resources are trees.  Trees make the paper we use for so many products, from office paper to cardboard boxes to magazines.  We live in a society that consumes paper faster than we can grow trees.  Recycling shredded paper creates meaningful environmental savings all around.

Did you know that regularly shredding paper is good for the environment?  Paper is one of the most used materials in circulation.  By regularly shredding your documents as opposed to throwing them in the trash, not only is your paper waste is rendered unusable, it can be recycled into other products.

PAPER AND RECYCLING FACTS

93 percent of paper comes from trees, and 50 percent of waste from businesses is paper waste.  In the U.S., offices use 12.1 trillion sheets of paper per year.  In our landfills, paper accounts for 25 percent of waste.  According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, when you throw just one piece of paper into the trash bin, that piece of paper becomes approximately 33% of the municipal solid waste stream (MSW), making it the largest portion of MSW. Imagine how quickly this adds up when you consider the average work office.  The average office worker uses 10,000 sheets of copy paper per year.  By shredding and recycling that paper, it goes a long way in saving our environment.

Deforestation is the most direct impact of our reliance on paper.  It is estimated that by 2020, paper mills will be producing 500,000,000 tons of paper and paperboard each year.  By recycling the shredded paper, we can prevent destroying our forests.  We need to protect the earth, trees, and the atmosphere.

WHY RECYCLE?

  • Each ton of recycled paper can save 17 trees, 380 gallons of oil, three cubic yards of landfill space, 4000 kilowatts of energy, and 7000 gallons of water.
  • Office paper can be recycled into paper towels, tissue paper and toilet paper.
  • Recycled paper, paperboard, and de-inked market pulp mills employ nearly 140,000 people directly and influence another 615,000 jobs, for a total of nearly 755,000 jobs nationwide.
  • Producing recycled paper requires less energy than producing paper from trees.

Where do you stand with the old file boxes taking up storage space in your office?  Do you need to destroy them or do you need to recycle them?  With Legal Shred, you get the best of both worlds.  By utilizing our safe and secure document destruction services, you are supporting the environment as a model citizen without compromising the confidentiality and security of your customers and staff.

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Recycling Shredded Paper

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