Paper Recovery rate in the US during 2013 was 63.5%, says AF&PA

ALBANY (Scrap Monster): The 2014 American Forestry and Paper Association (AF&PA) Sustainability Report states that the paper recovery rate in the US was 63.5% during 2013. The country’s paper recovery rate has exceeded 60% for the past five years in a row. The report states that the industry aims to exceed 70% recovery rate by 2020.

The report states that paper recovery plays a significant role in the country’s economy. The amount of paper recovered for recycling has increased by more than 70% since 1990s. Approximately 78 percent of all U.S. paper mills use some recovered fiber to make everything from paper-based packaging to tissue to office paper and newspaper.

Approximately 2.5 times more paper is recycled than is sent to landfills, and every ton of paper recovered for recycling saves 3.3 cubic yards of landfill space. According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), only 27.7 percent of glass, 19.8 percent of aluminum, and 8.8 percent of plastics consumed were recovered for recycling in 2012, compared to 64.6 percent of paper.

AF&PA member companies’ use of recovered fiber resulted in avoided greenhouse gas emissions of nearly 18 million metric tons of CO2 equivalents in 2013. This has the added benefit to society of reducing other air pollutants that would be released if the paper were to end up in a landfill.

The value of US recovered paper exports totaled $3.1 billion in 2013.