PRESERVE & CONSERVE

The production of paper uses 7.2 billion trees per year. Companies use clear cutting practices to cut down trees to make paper, cardboard products, and other paper products. This practice releases millions of tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. Thus, hurting the ecosystems that support animals, plants, and humans. Moreover, whole communities have to relocate and change their culture when they lose their environment.

Another problem of paper consumption is that the papers thrown into landfills creates methane. The United States consumes at most 660 pounds of paper per capita. This totals to 31.75 million tons of paper for our country. About 27.8 million tons of papers are being printed, 3.7 million tons of which is copy paper.

       High-income countries on average consumes 279.704 kilograms of paper per person between 2000-2005, compared to low and middle income countries that consumes about 42.132 kg and 4.615 kg per person within the same years. Additionally, as high-income countries are decreasing their paper consumption, middle and low-income countries are increasing their paper consumption. Furthermore, in countries such as China and India, income is growing and thus fuels the demands for more paper products (tissue, packaging products, etc.). Therefore, despite higher-income countries lowering their paper consumption, worldwide paper and paperboard consumption may surpass 400million tons in 2012.