Recycling: A closer look

Forty-two out of the fifty U.S. states have mills that use recovered paper.

Out of the 521 paper, paperboard, and building products mills in the U.S., 450 use recovered paper, and 22 rely on it exclusively.

Worldwide, over 95 million metric tons of paper are recovered each year to be made into recycled paper and paperboard. Recovered fiber makes up over one-third of the total fiber used to make the world's paper.

Recovery of office paper has more than doubled since 1998. In 1996, 3,810,000 tons of office paper were recovered, up from 1,600,000 tons in 1990.

More paper and paperboard packaging is recovered for recycling than all glass, plastic, metal, and other materials combined! In 1998, nearly 20 million tons of paper and paperboard packaging were recovered for recycling in the U.S.

As much as 75% of all corrugated material and containers are recovered for recycling in the U.S.

As much as 68% of all newsprint used in the U.S. is recovered for recycling. A little more than a third of this is recycled back into newsprint. Other products made from recovered newsprint include cereal boxes, corrugated boxes, books, insulating materials, printing and writing paper, tissue, egg cartons, and animal bedding.