Did you know:

• We use 69 million tons of paper and paperboard in the United States?
• 40% of the world’s industrial logging goes into making paper?
• More than 5000 products can be made from recycled paper, including bandages, egg cartons, and coffee filters?

Here are some simple and fun ideas for reducing and reusing:

• Share information electronically instead of printing it out
• If you have to print something out, print it double-sided
• Instead of making and keeping multiple paper copies of documents, scan them and save them electronically
• Use scrap paper instead of a fresh notebook (or make your own!) Click here for an easy step-by-step using staples or here using glue.
• Reduce amount of unsolicited junk mail: Federal Trade Commission’s Consumer Information
• Use an empty tissue box to hold plastic shopping bags or trim off the top and store your scrap paper/rubber bands/etc.
• Did your printer have a “moment” and print out dozens of single-sided pages accidentally?  Use your 3-hole punch and one of the many binders floating around campus to create a notebook for meetings and other note-taking.
• Recycling on campus is easy!  See those blue bins next to your desk or in the hallway?  Those are for paper!  Here’s a list of what can and can’t be recycled on campus: BCC Recycling Guidelines

For additional information:

EPA Paper FAQs (Broken link, removed 2/20/2020)

Forest Ethic’s Paper Facts (Broken Link, removed 2/20/2020)

The World Counts Paper Waste Facts (Link added 2/20/2020)

Toner Buzz Facts About Paper (Link added 2/20/2020, some advertisements)