Americans discard 4 million tons of office paper each year! This is enough to build a 12-foot wall from Los Angeles to New York City. Each 20 cases of recycled paper saves 17 trees, 390 gallons of oil, 7000 gallons of water, and 4100 kwh of energy. It also eliminates 60 pounds of air-polluting emissions and saves 8 cubic feet of landfill space. That’s a BIG benefit to receive for changing to a product that is as good (or better) than the product you use now!
Post-consumer material is an end product that has completed its life cycle as a consumer item and would otherwise have been disposed of as a solid waste. Post-consumer materials include recyclables collected in commercial and residential recycling programs, such as office paper, cardboard, aluminum cans, plastics and metals.
Recycled-content products may contain some pre-consumer waste, some post-consumer waste or both. A product does not have to contain 100 percent recovered materials to be considered “recycled,” but clearly the higher the percentage of recycled content, the greater the amount of waste that is diverted from disposal. Always look at the level of post-consumer recycled content in a product.
Your cleaning service can provide your office with many recycled products including restroom and kitchen paper towels, tissue paper, toilet paper, and??? Contrary to what some may believe, recycled products have the same quality, reliability, and dependability as virgin (new fiber that has never been used by a manufacturer before to make paper or other product) fiber products. Additionally, many recycled products are priced competitively with those made from virgin materials and in some cases are even cheaper. Demand has lowered prices, and if you continue to purchase products made with recycled materials, this trend will continue.
With 95% of our native forests in the U.S. gone, and only 3.9% of California’s old growth redwoods remaining, a change is in order. Reusing and recycling materials are only part of the effort needed to reduce the strain on environmental resources. Consumers must also purchase goods created from recycled materials in order to complete the circle.
