The national trade association of the forest, paper, and wood products industry has said that approximately fifty six per cent of paper used up in the United States underwent recycling in 2007, meeting an industry target five years before the scheduled time. This was disclosed during the industry’s 131st Yearly Paper Week conference.
While announcing the accomplishment, the American Forest and Paper Association said it was setting a new target of recycling sixty per cent of all paper by the year 2012.
Between 1990 and 2007 the amount of paper that underwent recycling rose by more than twenty five million tons. This rise in paper recycling cut down on emissions by more than ninety seven million tonnes of carbon dioxide which is equivalent to the emissions of close to eighteen million motor vehicles per year.
The chairman and chief executive of the Smurfit-Stone Container Corporation, Patrick J. Moore said that while the increase in paper recycling was a big encouragement, reaching a rate of recycling of sixty per cent was going to be a tough nut to crack.
Smurfit-Stone is one of the oldest members of the American Forest and Paper Association and is also one of the globe’s biggest firms undertaking recycling of paper.
The president and chief executive of the non-profit Keep America Beautiful, which collaborates with the American Forest and Paper Association in initiatives to boost paper recycling in educational institutions, Matthew McKenna, heaped praise on the association and its members for their endeavours. He added that real environmental progress was only achievable when industries partner with members of the public and organizations to bring about change.
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