Recycling and Recovery

Just because you diligently participate in your community recycling effort does not mean that every newspaper and plastic bottle collected by your municipality will be able to be reused. Not all recycled waste is recovered; most of it still winds up in landfills or other disposal (54.3% of the total collected in 2009).

But we are getting better. From a peak of 3.24 pounds per person of garbage landfilled in 1980, Americans have reduced that figure to 2.36 pounds in 2009 (EPA MSW 2009).

Paperboard has better recycling statistics than any other packaging material: the EPA, in its latest publication containing 2009 statistics, reports that 62.4% of all paperboard packaging waste was recovered! 

Just the Facts

Paper packaging accounts for nearly three quarters of all packaging materials recovered for recycling, totaling nearly 25 million tons. (U.S. Environmental Protection Agency)

In the U.S., 87 percent of the population has access to curbside or drop-off paper recycling programs. (American Forest & Paper Association)

U.S paper recovery has grown by 72 percent since 1990, when the paper industry established its first recovery goal to advance recycling (AF&PA).

In 2009, 79 percent of paper and paperboard mills used some recovered paper and 119 mills used only recovered paper (AF&PA).

Recycled paperboard represents the largest market for recycled paper in the U.S. (Earth 911)

In the U.S., 33 percent of materials used to make paper come from recycled paper. (Earth 911)

More than half of the products on supermarket shelves are now packaged in recycled paperboard. (Pulp & Paper Factbook)

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