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I've heard that the U.S. has
plenty of trees. Why recycle?
You're right; there are plenty of trees
in the United States. As a result of the forest products
industry's sustainable forestry practices, there are
more trees in the U.S. today than there were 75 years
ago. And because more trees are grown in the U.S.
than are harvested, there will be plenty of trees
and forest products for future generations to enjoy.
But we should continue to recover
our paper products for recycling. While our forest resources
are abundant, adding recycled fiber to new wood fiber
is a good way to stretch our forest resources.
Recycling also helps control waste disposal problems.
For every ton of paper recovered for recycling, about
3 cubic yards of landfill space are saved. And in many
cases, recovering paper for recycling can save communities
money that they would otherwise have to spend for disposal.
In 1999, about 45 percent of the paper used in the U.S.
was diverted from the waste stream to be recycled into
new paper products. Today, recovered paper supplies
over 38 percent of the total fiber needed to produce
our country's paper products.
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