Precious Paper
Since the cave age to the modern age the humans have been producing garbage. The primitive man gathered food by hunting. The hunt was brought home and eaten. And the inedible bones were thrown out of the cave. Over time, bones piled up around the cave. Accumulation of garbage became unbearable.
The lack of knowledge in garbage disposal made him to move out and find some other shelter. The modern man never sees the magnitude of his garbage. Someone else will take care of garbage disposal for him. One third of the garbage we throw away is paper.
Throwing away paper is throwing many natural resources. Paper manufacturing consumes large amount of water, trees and energy.
Plant fibers are separated from trees either mechanically or chemically and rearranged to make paper. The fibers that make a tree stand tall and resist the elements of nature are also are embedded in a sheet of paper. There are bout seven layers of plant fiber in a sheet of paper. The air is trapped in the fiber matrix giving paper its weight less ness. Paper is about seventy five percent air.
Paper is lightweight and strong. This natural material facilitates us in communication, packaging and hygiene. Living without paper will be like going back to the primitive times
A ton of “regular” paper requires the following:
- 2 cords of wood (about 17 full grown trees)
- 22, 000 gallons of
water
- 102 lbs of sulfur
- 350 lbs of lime
- 389 lbs of clay
- 1.2 tons of coal
- 112 kW power
- 20 lbs of dye and
pigment
- 108 lbs of starch
- Plus smaller
components
A ton of paper will produce about 7000 News Papers.
A ton of recycled paper will save
- 17 trees
- 7000 gallons of water
- 463 gallons of oil (The paper industry is the single largest user of fuel oil in the United States).
- 60 pounds of air pollution
- 3.3 cubic yards of landfill space
- 4100 kilowatt hours of energy ( energy to heat an average home for six months ).
Recycled paper used in the manufacturing process:
- 74% Less air pollution is generated
- 35% Less water pollution is generated
- 58% Less water is required
- 64% Less energy is required
The paper waste:
- Americans make about 750,000 photocopies every minute every day.
- The average office worker uses about 180 pounds of high grade paper (white bond and computer paper) every year.
- The average 100-person company uses about 378,000 sheets of copier paper per year, an amount that would make a stack about seven stories high.
- Every day, U.S. businesses generate enough waste paper to encircle the Earth 20 times.
- One year’s worth of the New York Times News Paper weigh 520 pounds.
What is recovered:
- Every day, U.S. paper manufactures recycle enough paper to fill a 15-mile long
train of boxcars.
- Americans now recover more than 40 percent of all office papers.
- In 1995, 70 percent of all corrugated cardboard was recovered.
- In 1995, paper comprised about 33 percent of the waste disposed of in U.S. landfills, even after recycling.
Every day, the United States generates approximately 200 million tons of "trash"--about 4.3 pounds per person. Less than one-quarter of it is recycled; the rest is incinerated or buried in landfills.
One third of the waste we generate is paper and about 50% of the municipal waste is paper
With a little forethought, we could reuse or recycle more than 70 percent of the land filled waste, which includes valuable materials such as glass, metal, and paper. This would reduce the demand on virgin sources of materials and eliminate potentially severe environmental, economic, and public health problems.
Summary
Paper and paper products can be recycled for useful purposes. A single sheet of paper seems like a week material. The strength of paper can be enhanced by folding, layering, molding, laminating and crumpling. Therefore, paper can be recycled to make furniture and other functional objects.
The material of construction is less of a concern when the design is of cutting edge and innovative methods of construction are used to maximize durability.
Milk cartons and egg cartons are common paper products that are unique in design. One holds liquid from leaking and the other protects delicate eggs from breaking. They are all made out of a single sheet of paper, configured in ingenious ways to package food. These containers are intended for single use, but they are durable enough to be reused to make functional and decorative objects.
Using a few containers for creative expression may not make a big dent in the ever growing garbage pile. But, only creative thinking can find better uses for waste paper . To save millions of tons of paper ending as garbage it is necessary to reduce, reuse and recycle paper.
References
Milk Carton Recycling. (1999). Rissho University-Japan.
Retrieved October 30. 2003. From the World Wide Web:
http://gaia.ris.ac.jp/env.edu/forest/gyuunyuue.html
Pulp and Paper Science Program-K-12 Activities for Students and Teaches.
University Of North Carolina.
Retrieved October 30. 2003. From the World Wide Web:
http://www.cfr.ncsu.edu/wps/k12activities/lectures.htm
Paper Facts. EPA region 5, Agricultural and Biological Engineering. Perdue University
Retrieved October 30. 2003. From the World Wide Web:
http://www.epa.gov/grtlakes/seahome/housewaste/src/recycle.htm
Waste Wise-Environmental Factoids. EPA.
Retrieved October 30. 2003. From the World Wide Web:
http://www.epa.gov/wastewise/wrr/factoid.htm
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