Paper manufacturing

“Americans receive over 65 billion pieces of unsolicited mail each year, equal to 230 appeals, catalogs and advertisements for every person in the country (AIGA,4).” This article goes on to explain how almost half of this mail is thrown out without being opened, mail that has been produced using mostly virgin fiber paper. But they dispel the myth that the consumption of trees is the worst impact on the environment. This confused me at first because I was under the impression that most of the argument for recycling paper was that we needed the trees for their role in converting carbon dioxide into oxygen and could not afford to cut them down to make into paper. But since trees are a renewable resource, the most harmful part of the process is actually converting the wood to paper. “Paper manufacturing alone is the third largest use of fossil fuels worldwide and the single largest industrial use of water per pound of finished product. Printing inks and toner are the second largest uses of carbon black, which is primarily manufactured by the incomplete combustion of oil (AIGA,5).”