How much energy does recycling paper save?

Answer 1

Recycling PaperPaper can be recycled 5 to 7 times before the fibers become too short to be useful!!! The number depends on the quality of the paper being recycled in the first place. As the fibers become shorter through the recycling process, the paper quality is lessened.

Unbleached (brown) paper such as corrugated boxboard which does not require any de-inking can be recycled 10-20 times.

Bleached grade papers such as newspaper, office waste etc. which will require de-inking can be recycled 5-10 times.

Answer 2

Energy savings - recycling paper:

The Department of Energy states that a ton of paper made from recycled fibers conserves 7,000 gallons of water, up to 31 trees, 4,000 KWh of electricity and up to 60 pounds of air pollutants (not including carbon dioxide).

Overall, recycling paper uses about 60% less energy than making paper from new materials

To convert the above figures to energy use per ream (500 pages), it is helpful to know that a ream of common paper weighs about 2.5 kgs.

Answer 3

Australians use about 3.5 million tonnes of paper every year.

Less than half of this is recycled.

Answer 4

20% of 2007 tonnes