America's Paper Glut

Think the digital age has reduced America's dependence on paper? Think again. According to Center of American Progress, paper usage in America now accounts for 25 percent of all the stuff that goes into our landfills. And despite the advances in digital technology and the pervasiveness of email in business today, offices today are still using as much paper as they were in 1994.

In fact...

• The average American uses about 800 pounds of paper each year.
• In total, the U.S. uses about 200 billion pounds of paper a year, which takes 1.7 billion trees to produce.
• Americans discard 4 million tons of office paper every year - enough to build a 12-foot high wall of paper from New York to California. -Source: American Forest & Paper Association, 2004
• Paper manufacturing is the 3rd largest user of fossil fuels worldwide. -Source: American Forest and Paper Association
• Paper manufacturing is the largest industrial user of water per pound of finished product. -Source: American Forest and Paper Association
• The US uses 25% of the world's paper products. -Source: American Forest and Paper Association
• It takes 75,000 trees to print a Sunday Edition of the New York Times. -Source: North Carolina Office of Waste Reduction and Recycling
• Every tree provides oxygen enough for 3 people to breathe. -Source: North Carolina Office of Waste Reduction and Recycling
• In the US, 9,190 million tons of office paper was generated, and 4,220 million tons were recovered in 2002. In 2000, only 4,545 million tons were recovered. -Source: Waste Age "Profiles in Garbage," September 2003
• Office paper is the most heavily recovered segment of printing and writing paper (which also includes book and magazine paper, junk mail, brochures, etc.). -Source: Waste Age, "Profiles in Garbage," November 2001