Is this a good argument for *not* recycling paper?

Question

I work at a rural public high school. I proposed starting a program to recycle paper, since we waste an egregious amount of it here. (Let me give you an example: Suppose you want to make a copy of a 100-page document and want to print on both sides of the paper. You forgot to change this setting on the copier, so when your copy comes out, you just toss all 100 pages. This happens many, many times a day.) One of my colleagues dismissed the idea as a waste of time, citing the fact that "trees are a renewable resource." I didn't have a good rejoinder, but I can't help but think that her perspective is shallow.

So is this really a good argument? Even if trees really are renewable, aren't there other good reasons for recycling paper as opposed to just dumping it?

Answer 1

That is an awful argument, yes we can grow more but it takes allot longer to grow a new one than to recycle it. People are so ignorant about the earth it makes me mad

Answer 2

This is a bad argument.  It does not make sense!  Yes, trees ARE renewable, but think about it for a second!  More trees are being cut down than there are being planted!  Trees are vital for us-they do many things for us and the environment around us.  Recycling paper is just a way to keep that tree in use over and over again, never to go to waste.  Trees have probably done more for us than we have to them!  Recycling helps the planet from what we have already done.  However, in the future, I believe that one day we will not use paper.  We would use the technology we have today and use it for the future.  Instead of printing that invoice-just email it!  It saves lots and lots of trees.  I think that there are many paths for the future.  One step to helping our environment would be by recycling.  I mean honestly---what kind of world do you want your grand kids to live in?

We can change the world.

Answer 3

Copier paper can be composted, so why use excess fuel to haul it off as trash to fill a dump that probably does not have a methane generator on site.

Grow something don't bury it.

Answer 4

She sounds lazy. Most large companies use big receptacles for their paper trash (the mailroom is a good location). Request that your school obtain one..probably from their trash hauler. Keep a smaller one next to the copy machine (for recycle paper only). Periodically empty it into the larger one. That simple! It will  take less energy to recycle that used paper than to cut down more trees & make more paper from scratch. If she won't listen, then I'd go above her head. Good luck.

Answer 5

well trees are a renewable source but how long does it take to grow a tree..... ask her that. Shes stupid, you should get a box or something and leave it near the copier. As a school they should promote recycling so students do it as well, and there should be recycling boxes in every class. You should bring it up at a PTA meeting or something, in the long run, it;s cheaper for the school, beause they have less garbage, and they should buy recyled paper too. You should fight for it.....

Answer 6

Trees may be renewable in theory, but we cut more trees down than grow back. We are destroying natural resources, such as trees, at an unsustainable rate. Essentially this means that we take more trees out to make paper than can grow to the appropriate size to be used as a resource in a year. Therefore, your coworker's argument is completely . And I am truly diasappointed that someone so misinformed is educating the children in this nation!

Answer 7

No, it is no a good argument. And it is not a good idea to recycle paper products. It is a good idea not to be wasteful though. Tree farming is a big business and employs hundreds or thousands of individuals. These farms grow trees at a very rapid rate and then harvest them for the expressed purpose of making paper products.

Answer 8

Only sometimes are tree renewable.  In most cases so many trees are cut down in an area at the same time, the trees don't have enough time to grow back with the same amount of trees as before.  This is definitely not showing that trees are being "renewable resources."  Even if all trees were renewable, that is no reason to not recycle.

Anytime you throw anything away, you are just polluting the earth more.  It's terrible and sad when something that CAN be recycled is thrown away, for it just shows laziness and no care for the earth.

Answer 9

thats like chopping down all he trees in the world and saying that they will grow back so foget about it

thats also like driving past a kangaroo eating a cake and yelling out to it "hey! you missed a spot"

Answer 10

recycleing paper saves trees n makes less polution. plus trees giv us air. so recycling is good no matter wat

Answer 11

There is another reason to recycle.  Not only are trees renew-

able like you say but trees also produces oxygen.  If people

won't recycle their newspapers then someday we could run

out of oxygen if there are no trees and where would that leave

us?

Answer 12

Trees are a renewable source, but, as has been said before, it is a lot better for the environment to recycle paper.  In addition to all the points made, like the Co2 and use of fossil fuels, why make new paper from trees, when you can make paper from used paper that is otherwise only going to sit aroud in landfill and rot?  Things that rot in landfill produce greenhouse gases and methane, plus, the more things we continues to put in landfill, the sooner we are going to run out of space!  

Also, just say for arguments sake that as a population, we use 100,000 trees per year (yes I know it is a lot more than that).  Even if we re-planted 100,000 trees every year, if they take more than 12 months to grow then we are not replacing the trees at the same rate we are using them.  If a tree takes 10 years to grow, then we need to be replanting 10 times as many trees as we are cutting down.  

I agree, the USA can be awful when it comes to the environment.  A recent visit there, showed that many people use disposable cutlery and plates as it's easier than doing the dishes.  Also, even the school dinner trays (that you eat off) are made out of polystyrene, rather than the plastic ones in the UK, that are washed and used again.

When buying things, people should look for the most environmentally product, even down to whether one product has more packaging than another, or where the product originated from.  If it was made 1,000 miles away, it's a lot more damaging to the environment than a product that was made 50 miles away.

Answer 13

50/50.  Trees are renewable but they take a long time.  

On the other hand:  

Do you know how much energy is used or how much Chemcial Sludge is created from recycling paper?

Answer 14

Waste is waste.  Your colleagues need to be educated that waste is not a good thing.  There is no good argument against reducing, reusing, and recycling...unless your a republican evangelical and you are waiting to get raptured.

Answer 15

trees may be a renewable resource but the fossil fuel that is  burned to:

cut

transport

and

process

the trees into paper ,is not a renewable resource.The more paper that is wasted means that more trees need to be cut,transported and processd into paper to replace the wasted paper thereby requiring more fossil fuels to be burned in the process.

Answer 16

Trees are a renewable resource only when harvested SUSTAINABLY. At the rate we chop down trees, we all might as well have a lung removed since there won't be enough oxygen to go around to fill two of them per person. Trees provide important habitat for all kinds of animals, provide shade and in masses actually helps to cool the planet, provides much needed oxygen where our air is now being pumped full of CO2 and helps to remove some of that CO2 as well as other pollutants from the air. Just because we can replant a tree doesn't mean that it will grow fast enough to replace the ones we've taken in the time we need it. Next time a truly ignorant arguement such as that happens again, arm yourself with information such as below:

Why Recycle Paper?

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Statistics

It is possible to achieve significant reductions in the cost of buying office paper by reducing paper use and reusing paper where possible.

Eliminating office from waste may reduce waste bills by as much as 50%.

Making new paper from old paper uses 30% to 55% less energy than making paper from trees and reduces related air pollution by 95%.

Each day American businesses generate enough paper to circle the globe at least 40 times!

77% of paper waste generated in offices is recyclable.

Typical business offices generate about 1.5 pounds of waste paper per employee each day.

Nearly half of typical office paper waste is high grade office paper.

Recycling one ton of paper typically saves about 6.7 cubic yards of landfill space. A cubic yard of stacked office paper weighs about 380 pounds. Cost savings may be estimated by multiplying the tons recycled by 6.7 times the cost per cubic yard for waste disposal (if by volume) of by cost per ton (if by weight).

Commercial and residential paper waste accounts for more than 40% of waste going to the landfill. Eliminating this paper from our waste would nearly double the lives of current landfills.

Newspaper is recycled into newspaper, game boards, egg cartons, gift boxes, animal bedding, insulation, and packaging material.

Office paper is recycled into office paper, tissue paper, paper towels, and toilet paper.

Corrugated cardboard is recycled into new cardboard and cereal boxes.

Resources Saved Per Ton of Paper Recycled:

17 trees

275 pounds of sulphur

350 lbs of limestone

9,000 lbs of steam

60,000 gal of water

225 kilowatt hours

3.3 cubic yards of landfill space

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Source: The Public Recycling Officials of Pennsylvania, Developing a Waste Reduction and Recycling Program for Commercial, Industrial and Municipal Establishments, May 1995.

Answer 17

true, but trees take years to mature...

Answer 18

thats a rediculous argument, they are renewable but they are being cut and used faster then we can grow them....