By Jordan Craig
Manager, Government and Industry Affairs, AF&PA
Today marks Global Recycling Day, the second anniversary of the global effort headed up by the Global Recycling Foundation to promote the importance of recycling and underscore its benefits. We've had many successes to date, and this year's theme "Recycling into the Future" puts the focus on the road ahead and how educating our youth is so important. AF&PA couldn't be more excited to assist!
We're proud to note that paper by weight is the most recycled material from municipal waste collection programsin the United States today. That's a fact worth celebrating and one that would not be possible without our industry's voluntary effort to increase paper recycling.
In 2017, 65.8 percent (or more than 50 million tons) of all paper consumed in the U.S. was recovered for recycling. The recovery rate has met or exceeded 63 percent for the past nine years. Nearly double the amount of paper is recycled than is sent to landfills and the annual paper recovery rate has nearly doubled since 1990, making paper recycling a true environmental success story.
To celebrate Global Recycling Day 2019 and educate citizens about how future goals can be reached, AF&PAoffers a variety of efforts to encourage and increase paper recycling. Free interactive features, statistics, classroom materials and resources to help start or improve paper recycling programs can be found below or onpaperrecycles.org.
Global Recycling Day is a team effort. In Washington, D.C. the Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries (ISRI) is promoting the initiative on Capitol Hill and inviting Senators to take part in activities.
We encourage you to help celebrate and share your photo or video online via your social channels by tagging usand using the Global Recycling Day hashtag, #RecyclingGoals. Also, follow us on @PaperRecycles as we will be posting our favorite recycling tips.
Education Materials
The Responsible Package
https://www.theresponsiblepackage.com/
Paper recycles.org web site
https://www.paperrecycles.org/
Paper Recycling One pager
https://www.afandpa.org/docs/default-source/1pgrs/2018-january-update/paper-recycling-january-2018ce0f631d97fc689eb396ff0000c341bc.pdf?sfvrsn=2
Paper Recycling in Your State
https://paperrecycles.org/recycling-resources/paper-recycling-in-your-state
A Guide to Shredding and Recycling Paper
https://paperrecycles.org/recycling-resources/paper-shredding-recycling
Why You Shouldn't Wishcycle video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W_3bbU51JKE
Recycling Best Practices video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9e6REHr5agc
What is Recyclable video
https://www.paperrecycles.org/recycling-resources/what-is-recyclable-
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