Environmental impact of paper

The environmental impact of paper is significant, which has led to changes in industry and behaviour at both business and personal levels. With the use of modern technology such as the printing press and the highly mechanised harvesting of wood, disposable paper has become a cheap commodity. This has led to a high level of consumption and waste. With the rise in environmental awareness due to the lobbying by environmental organizations and with increased government regulation there is now a trend towards sustainability in the pulp and paper industry.

Environmental product declarations or product scorecards are available to collect and evaluate the environmental and social performance of paper products, such as the Environmental Paper Assessment Tool (EPAT), or Paper Profile,.

Both the U.S. and Canada generate interactive maps of environmental indicators which show pollution emissions of individual facilities.

The production and use of paper has a number of adverse effects on the environment which are known collectively as paper pollution. Pulp mills contribute to air, water and land pollution. Discarded paper is a major component of many landfill sites, accounting for about 35 percent by weight of municipal solid waste (before recycling). Even paper recycling can be a source of pollution due to the sludge produced during de-inking. According to a Canadian citizen's organization, "People need paper products and we need sustainable, environmentally safe production."

Pulp and paper is the third largest industrial polluter to air, water, and land in Canada and sixth largest in the United States. In 2015, the industry released 174,000 tonnes to air, water and land (or 5.3%) out of a total of 3.3 million tonnes released by all industries in Canada. In the United States the pulp and paper industry released about 79, 000 tonnes or about 5% of all industrial pollutant releases in 2015 Of this total waste released by the pulp and paper industry in the U.S., 66% was released into the air, 10% into water and 24% onto land whereas in Canada, most of the waste (96%) was released into the air.

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