We may think that all paper gets recycled and reused... but that's not really the case.
In fact, an average of 18 million tonnes of paper ends up in the United States (US) Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) landfills and 3 million tonnes in Canadian landfills annually.
As a result, this massive amount of unnecessary paper waste in landfills leads to many other environmental and health problems (e.g. global warming and workplace hazards). The paper waste also releases harmful chemicals, such as methane, into the air and soil when it decomposes in landfills.
Because much of paper we "recycle" is wasted, more trees are being cut down to produce additional paper to satisfy our continuously high demand for paper products.
So... how can we reduce such massive paper waste?
1. Cut down on our own paper usage, avoiding any unnecessary paper waste in our households
2. Switch to digital devices (if possible)! This should help eliminate most of your household paper waste
3. If you want to do something fun with your paper waste... give your paper another life by making it into seed paper (tutorial coming soon...)! This creates a circular economy where waste turns into something valuable, and everyone benefits from it!
Got any questions? Email us here!