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G2 | Surprising Facts

  • Each American uses about 730 pounds of paper (over 1/3 of a ton) per year.  This is 7 times the world average.

    - Source: "Taking Action for Forests" - Biodiversity 911 (www.biodiversity911.org), World Wildlife Fund

 

  • Producing a ton of paper takes 24 trees, 55,000 gallons of water, enough energy to heat a regular-sized home for two months, and emits about 60 pounds of pollution.

    - Source: "Recycling Paper" - (www.ibuydifferent.com)

 

  • The average office worker throws away about 120 pounds of high-grade recyclable paper each year.

    - Source: "Taking Action for Forests" - Biodiversity 911 (www.biodiversity911.org), World Wildlife Fund

 

  • Each year, Americans throw away enough paper to build a 12-foot high wall from New York to Los Angeles.

    - Source: "Taking Action for Forests" - Biodiversity 911 (www.biodiversity911.org), World Wildlife Fund

 

  • Paper products occupy 30 to 40% of landfill space.

    - Source: "Recycling Paper" - (www.ibuydifferent.com)

 

  • If all of the paperwork in an aircraft carrier were eliminated, the carrier would float a meter higher in the water.

    - Source: "Managing Records or Managing Media: Information Boom, or Bust!"  Keynote address at the 14th National Convention of the Records Management Association of Australia (RMAA) by The Caldeson Consultancy Principal Michael Steemson. (www.caldeson.com/future.html)

 

  • Nearly 80% of the world’s original forests have already been logged or severely degraded.  The US has lost 95%.

    - Source: "Recycling Paper" - (www.ibuydifferent.com)

 

  • Organizations continue to print, copy and fax more than a trillion pages of office paper each year.

    - Source: Infotrends