Earth running out of freshwater
Unless water use is drastically reduced
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
- China 117,000,000 tons
- United States 66,000,000 tons
- Japan 23,000,000 tons
