Consumer Goods
333,052,320

Tonnes of paper produced

Globally, this year

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The environmental effects of paper production include deforestation, the use of enormous amounts of energy and water as well as air pollution and waste problems. Paper accounts for around 26% of total waste at landfills.
Illustration 237
Forests
22,192,588.07hectares

Hectares of forests cut down or burned

Globally, this year

Water
13y 78d 09h 28m 02stime

Earth running out of freshwater

Unless water use is drastically reduced

420,000,000 tons

Global annual production of paper and cardboard

Use of paper differs widely between countries

In the USA, Japan, and Europe an average person uses between 200 and 250 kilos of paper every year. In India the figure is 5 kilos, and in some countries it is less than 1 kilo.

Producing 1 kilo of paper requires 2-3 times its weight in trees. If everyone used 200 kilos of paper per year there would be no trees left.

Paper production requires LOTS of water

It takes between 2 and 13 liters of water to produce a single A4-sheet of paper, depending on the mill. The pulp and paper industry is the single largest industrial consumer of water in Western countries.

Recycling of paper works

Each tonne of recycled paper can avoid the use of 17 trees; 1,440 liters of oil; 2.3 cubic meters of landfill space; 4,000 kilowatts of energy and 26,500 liters of water.

Paper is quite simple to recycle, yet 55 percent of the global paper supply comes from newly cut trees.

Top 3 paper producing countries

  1. China 117,000,000 tons 
  2. United States 66,000,000 tons
  3. Japan 23,000,000 tons
Energy
460,589,934terajoules

Terajoules of energy used

Globally, this year

Climate
33,483,322,705tonnes

Tonnes of CO2 emitted from fossil fuels and land use

Globally, this year

Climate
1.5152230460°C

Global average temperature rise

Above pre-industrial levels, right now

Climate
499,868,361,129tonnes

Tonnes of ice lost from glaciers and ice sheets

Globally, this year

Climate
23.51296905centimeters

Rise in global average sea level, centimetres

Above the 1901 level, right now

Sources

T2
Statista
T2
<p>We consume 420 million tonnes of paper products every year. This includes: Pulp for paper and paper &amp; paperboard.</p>

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