* Half the world's forests have already been cleared or burned, and 80 per cent of what's left has been seriously degraded.

* 42 per cent of the industrial wood harvest is used to make paper.

* The paper industry is the fourth largest contributor to greenhouse gas emissions among the United States manufacturing industries, and contributes nine per cent of the manufacturing sector's carbon emissions.

* Compared to using virgin wood, paper made with 100 per cent recycled content uses 44 per cent less energy, produces 38 per cent less greenhouse gas emissions, 41 per cent less particulate emissions, 50 per cent less wastewater, 49 per cent less solid waste and — of course — 100 per cent less wood.

* Printing and writing papers use the least amount of recycled content — just six per cent. Tissues use the most, at 45 per cent, and newsprint is not far behind, at 32 per cent.

* China, India and the rest of Asia are the fastest growing per-capita users of paper, but they still rank far behind Eastern Europe and Latin America (about 100 pounds per person per year), Australia (about 300 pounds per person per year) and Western Europe (more than 400 pounds per person per year).

Source www.thedailygreen.com/environmental-news  

Some hard facts and figures

* To make one tonne of paper using recycled fibre, we end up saving the following

17 trees
3.3 cubic yards of landfill space
360 gallons of water
100 gallons of gasoline
60 pounds of air pollutants
10,401 kilowatts of electricity

* Nearly 218,000 tonnes of shredded paper is used each year for animal bedding.

* Recycling paper uses 60 per cent less energy than manufacturing paper from virgin timber.

* Recycling office waste paper saves valuable landfill space — three cubic yards for every tonne of paper recycled — and extends the lives of our landfills.

* Old newspapers are commonly used to make tissue and cardboard, while magazines are often recycled into newspaper.

* Each person in the United States consumes approximately 675 pounds of paper per year.

* The material that makes up the largest percentage of the waste stream is paper. Businesses use the greatest amount. Every year, Americans throw away enough office and writing paper to build a wall, 12-feet high, stretching from Los Angeles to New York City.

Source http//www.paperrecycles.org/