Paper and Card

Paper was first produced in China by Tsai Luin, the Chinese Minister of Agriculture in AD 105. It can be made from pulped wood, rags, cotton, grasses, sugar cane, straw or waste paper. In the UK, paper is mostly made from wood pulp although increasingly we are recycling more and more paper. When waste paper is dumped in landfill it rots down and produces methane, a powerful greenhouse gas.

Using recycled paper means that habitats are not lost when trees are felled to produce wood pulp. And although sustainable forests are managed to reduce the impact we should remember that the land they are now grown on was probably once a thriving natural environment with its associated habitats and wildlife. The average family uses six trees worth of paper each year.

Producing recycled paper uses 28% less energy than virgin paper and less water and sometimes this water use is reduced even further as it is re-used for batch after batch of paper. 

Think about ways to reduce the amount of paper you are using and ways to re-use the paper before you recycle it. Use both sides of the paper, make scrap pads out of used paper and re-use envelopes where possible. The Mailing Preference Service can be contacted to avoid receiving unsolicited mail:

The Mailing Preference Service, DMA House, 70 Margaret Street, London, W1W 8SS
 0845 703 4599  Website: www.mps-online.org.uk 

Always recycle your paper – just think that you could recycle your daily newspaper and it could be back on your doorstep 7 days later as a new issue!!

Remember that we have to buy recycled products at the same time as recycling our waste – this means we can "close the loop" so there will always be a market for recycled material!!