Did you know...

• That the world's first piece of paper was made from recycled material? That's right! Around 200 B.C., the Chinese used old fishing nets to make the world's very first piece of paper.
• Paper recycling has been around as long as paper itself. Paper companies have always recognized the environmental and economic benefits of recycling. In recent years, paper recycling has become popular with everyone as a way to help protect our environment by reusing our resources and conserving landfill space.
• Today, about 87% of the more than 520 paper and paperboard mills in the U.S. recycle some recovered paper. Today, recovered paper provides over one-third of all the fiber used at U.S. mills.
• Americans recover nearly 50% of all the paper they use.
• More paper is recovered in the United States than is sent to landfills.
• In the U.S., paper accounts for two-thirds of all the packaging material recovered for recycling -- more than glass, metal, and plastic combined!
• Recovered paper supplies close to 40% of the fiber used to make all paper and paperboard products in the U.S.
• Every day, U.S. papermakers recycle enough paper to fill a 15-mile long train of boxcars.
• A typical newsprint machine produces as many as 500 tons of paper every day. In the early 21st century, use of recovered paper is projected to grow twice as fast as the use of wood pulp.