Sustainable forest and woodlands. How long will they last?
November 4th 2010 22:59
In Washington Parish located in the southern part of Louisiana the timber industry is one of the biggest operators in Louisiana. We are located in a small area known as Pine, La. Between the towns of Franklinton and Bogalusa. Whenever we travel to our different jobs everyday we see evidence of logs after logs being transported to the paper and box plant that is located in Bogalusa, La. I commute about 500 to 600 miles with my job each week. It is unreal how many of these logging trucks are traveling to the various wood plants and lumber yards that are located throughout the region. I have been in the construction industry for the past 30 years and have seen a lot of lumber, plywood , and paper products used in my time in construction. This got me to thinking about how much we really relied upon this sustainable resource. I am now a construction instructor for Louisiana Technical College and I see some of the strides that we are making in construction when it comes to trying to save these precious resources that we have known as forests. I see lots of these trees being harvested and replanted everyday. The only thing that concerns me is the problem of using these resources up faster than we can replace them. This is just in the areas that I travel each day. It brings the question to me what goes on all over the world. We need took take a long serious look at the option of recycling and make a strong push as individuals to go back to this practice. I did some research and found some shocking stats on the use of paper that I will share with you. Remember this is for paper use not for lumber and wood use. I hope you will read these stats and begin to share the same concerns that I do.
Approx. 324 L. of water is used to produce 1 KG of
paper.
Source: Environment Canada
It is estimated that 95% of business information is
still stored on paper.
Source: International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED)
Discussion Paper (IIED, London, September 1996)
700 pounds of paper are consumed by the average
American each year.
Source: Environmental Defense Fund, Champion Paper Mills
10,000 trees are cut down annually in China to
make holiday cards.
Source: Xinhua News Agency
3 cubic yards of landfill space can be saved by one
ton of recycled paper.
Source: 50 Simple things you Can do to Save the Earth, Jodi B., Sudbury
Paper manufacturing is the largest industrial user of
water per pound of finished product.
Source: American Forest and Paper Association
The US uses 25% of the world's paper products.
Source: American Forest and Paper Association
The average American uses more than 748 pounds
of paper per year.
Source: American Forest and Paper Association
The US uses approx. 68 million trees each year to
produce 17 billion catalogues and 65 billion pieces
of direct mail.
Source: American Forest and Paper Association
It is estimated that paper consumption will rise by
50% by 2010.
Source: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, 1997:78
The average daily web user prints 28 pages daily.
Source: Gartner group and HP
115 billion sheets of paper are used annually for
personal computers.
Source: Worldwatch Institute
Every ton of recycled paper saves about 17 trees.
Source: Purdue Research Foundation and US Environmental Protection
Agency, 1996
Recycling paper uses 60% less energy than
manufacturing virgin timber paper.
Source: "1996 Statistics, Data Through 1995." American Forest and Paper
Association. November 1996. Pg. 2
The post-consumer recycling rate for old newsprint
in the US in 1990, 1992, and 1994 was 38%, 47%,
and 45% respectively
Source: Environmental Health and Safety Online (MSW Report)
Nearly 81.3 million tons of paper and paperboard
waste was generated in the U.S. in 1994.
Source: Environmental Health and Safety Online
Paper and paperboard constituted the largest
portion of the U.S. municipal solid waste stream in
1994, representing 38.9% of the total waste by
weight.
Source: Environmental Health and Safety Online
Paper had an overall recycling rate of 35.3% in
1994. About 55.3% of corrugated boxes, 45.3% of
newspapers, 19.3% of books, 30% of magazines,
and 42.5% of office papers were recycled in.
Source: Environmental Health and Safety Online
Recovered paper is used to make a variety of
products, including copier paper, paper towels and
napkins, corrugated boxes, and hydraulic mulch.
Source: Environmental Health and Safety Online
It takes 75,000 trees to print a Sunday Edition of
the New York Times.
Source: North Carolina Office of Waste Reduction and Recycling
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