Environmental Impact of Paper

The environmental effects of paper production include deforestation, the use of enormous amounts of energy and water as well as air pollution and waste problems. Paper accounts for around 26% of total waste at landfills.

420,000,000 tons Global annual production of paper and cardboard

420 million tons of paper corresponds to two pieces of paper for everyone on Earth every single hour. Not really a paperless society yet. Demand for paper is expected to double between 2005 and 2030.

Use of paper differs widely between countries

In the USA, Japan, and Europe an average person uses between 200 and 250 kilos of paper every year. In India the figure is 5 kilos, and in some countries it is less than 1 kilo.
Producing 1 kilo of paper requires 2-3 times its weight in trees. If everyone used 200 kilos of paper per year there would be no trees left.

Paper production requires LOTS of water

It takes 10 liters of water to produce a single A4-sheet of paper. The pulp and paper industry is the single largest industrial consumer of water in Western countries.

Recycling of paper works

Each ton of recycled paper can avoid the use of 17 trees; 1,440 liters of oil; 2.3 cubic meters of landfill space; 4,000 kilowatts of energy and 26,500 liters of water.

Top 3 paper producing countries

• China 99,300,000 tons
• United States 75,083,000 tons
• Japan 26,627,000 tons

Paper is quite simple to recycle, yet 55 percent of the global paper supply comes from newly cut trees.
https://www.theworldcounts.com/challenges/consumption/other-products/environmental-impact-of-paper/story