Recycling - It Adds Up!

In 1997, The Math League began our new effort to replace our current materials with materials printed on recycled paper. Recycling helps extend our natural resources, reduce pollution, and extend limited landfill space. When choosing recycled paper, two terms are used to explain what kind of recycled content is in the paper. Preconsumer waste comes from paper trimmings from the manufacturing process, printers trimmings, and converting operations like envelope manufacturers. Postconsumer waste is made up of paper products that would otherwise be thrown away in a landfill. Many recycled papers give both preconsumer and postconsumer content as a percentage of the paper product. In general, the higher the percentage of postconsumer content, the more trees, pollution, energy, and landfill space is saved.

Savings from Recycled Paper

A ton of paper made from 100% wastepaper (100% recycled postconsumer content), instead of virgin fiber, saves:

17 trees
7,000 gallons of water
60 pounds of air-pollution
4100 kilowatt-hours of energy
three cubic yards of landfill space, and taxpayer dollars which would otherwise be used for waste-disposal costs.

This year, The Math League used recycled paper containing a total of 11.4 tons of recycled paper fiber. This saved a total of:

194 trees
80,000 gallons of water
685 pounds of air pollution
46,800 kilowatt-hours of energy
34 cubic yard of landfill space.

You can make a difference!

For more information on recycling, visit:

The Internet Consumer Recycling Guide
Quick guide to recycling
EPA's Recycle City (for kids)
EPA - Environmental Protection Agency (comprehensive resource for adults and young adults)

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