Ever since Lewis and Clark reached the mouth of the Columbia River in 1805, people have been drawn to Oregon for its forests and natural beauty. The state tree, the Douglas fir, can be found all over the state. Amazingly, Oregon still has almost 92% of their forests that they did in 1850! How is this possible with their huge timber industry?
Private landowners cooperated and still cooperate with both federal and state governments to preserve Oregon forests. They use strategies that include replanting, restrictions on clearcutting, and preventing and managing occasional forest fires.
Today, Oregon is the most popular moving destination in the country which results in more homes, highways, businesses, and infrastructure. Unfortunately, along with this growth comes extra waste. Wood for buildings and furniture is mainly made from fresh trees and not recycled materials. Instead of recycling existing paper, trees are being torn down to make new paper. Foreign merchandise purchased by companies such as desks, office chairs, reams of paper and more flood the USA with products that are often turned into waste and not recycled.
But how bad can it be? And what can we do about it?
Paper Recycling Facts
To produce each week's Sunday newspapers, 500,000 trees must be cut down.
Recycling a single run of the Sunday New York Times would save 75,000 trees.
If all our newspaper was recycled, we could save about 250,000,000 trees each year!
If every American recycled just one-tenth of their newspapers, we would save about 25,000,000 trees a year.
The average American uses seven trees a year in paper, wood, and other products made from trees. This amounts to about 2,000,000,000 trees per year!
The amount of wood and paper we throw away each year is enough to heat 50,000,000 homes for 20 years.
Approximately 1 billion trees worth of paper are thrown away every year in the U.S.
Americans use 85,000,000 tons of paper a year; about 680 pounds per person.
In 1993, U.S. paper recovery saved more than 90,000,000 cubic yards of landfill space.
Each ton (2000 pounds) of recycled paper can save 17 trees, 380 gallons of oil, three cubic yards of landfill space, 4000 kilowatts of energy, and 7000 gallons of water. This represents a 64% energy savings, a 58% water savings, and 60 pounds less of air pollution!
The 17 trees saved (above) can absorb a total of 250 pounds of carbon dioxide from the air each year. Burning that same ton of paper would create 1500 pounds of carbon dioxide.
But what can your company do?
Shred that Paper!
Paper shredding is not only environmentally sound, but it also keeps your company’s information secure. It is a win-win scenario! Companies like American Shredding offer on-site paper shredding with NAAD certification which means all your information is kept safe and you can boast that your company is a warrior for the planet.
DID YOU KNOW? American Shredding saves over 200,000 trees per year by recycling your shredded paper.
Purchase Recycled Materials
Check to see if the paper you purchase is made of recycled paper. Do you offer bottled water to your staff? Make sure the bottles are made from recycled plastic or consider only offering paper cups that can be recycled.
Bring Your Community Together
It is easy to set up a Shred Event where you can invite your community to your business to recycle paper and other items. Make a day of it with snacks, music, prizes and more. Get your marketing department showing people that you care about them and the environment.
DID YOU KNOW? An average shred event generates over 7,000 lbs of paper, equivalent to planting 60 trees.
Oregon is a state of immense beauty full of nature that will always be a draw and will continue to grow. Make your Oregon-based company a standout for striving to keep it that way!
American Shredding offers recycling services to help you do your part to protect the planet. We use a combination of machine and manual processes to disassemble, break down, shred, or crush the products. They are then reused, recycled, or disposed of in a safe, secure, and environmentally friendly manner. We offer services in Arizona, Texas, Oregon, Utah, and Washington states. See our list of cities here.
Need help with a recycling plan? Get a quote today!