Paper Waste Facts and Statistics

There are loads of stats and facts about paper waste and recycling out there. To help you see the wood for the trees we’ve compiled some of the most relevant ones here and filed them under different sections. Explore these general paper waste statistics:

• The world produces more than 414 million metric tonnes of paper every year
• 42% of global wood harvest is used to create paper
• About 4 billion trees are cut down for the annual global paper supply
• 93% of paper comes from trees
• 24 trees are used to make one tonne of paper
• Five litres of water are required to make one sheet of A4 paper
• Around 26% of waste in landfill worldwide is paper – despite most paper waste being recyclable
• About 50% of business waste is paper products
• Producing recycled paper uses 30% less energy than making new paper
• Recycling one tonne of paper can save 17 trees
• It also saves between 3000 to 4000 kWh of electricity and around 30,000 litres of water – enough to sustain an average three-bedroomed house for a year
• Most paper is recyclable between five and seven times

Schools across the world are a big source of waste paper. Think of all the exercise books, worksheets, letters, posters, and other resources used in classrooms. At the end of the term or year, most of these are thrown away. Educational establishments still get through mountains of paper even as schools become more tech-focused.

Swot up on these school paper waste statistics to see how much recycling pupils and teachers could do:

• At least a quarter of every school bin is filled with paper that can easily be recycled
• The average primary school student produces about 45kg of waste paper
• Every secondary school student creates around 22kg of paper waste
• Schools in the USA use up to 32 billion sheets of paper a year
• Around one million sheets of paper are used per school, per year in the UK
• About £60,000 is spent on photocopying by schools
• One study found 80% of staff working in education admit the sector has the most trouble reducing its paper use

Traditional toilet paper was only invented in the late 19^th century in Albany, New York by Seth Wheeler. Since then it’s become common in bathrooms across the world. Today it’s estimated the average person flushes away the equivalent of 384 trees’ worth of toilet paper in their lifetime.

Explore some more toilet paper waste facts:

• 42 million tons of toilet paper are used globally each year
• Across the world, we get through around 184 billion rolls of toilet paper annually
• All the toilet paper in the world laid out is roughly 22 billion kilometres long – 50,000 times the Earth’s circumference
• Around 10% of paper discarded daily is toilet paper
• It takes nearly 700g of wood and3 kilowatt/hours (KWh) of electricity to make just one toilet roll
• Producing all the toilet paper the world uses requires 712 million trees, 1,165 million tonnes of water, and 78 million tonnes of oil
• On average everyone gets through 100 rolls of toilet paper per year – more than 20,000 sheets annually
• Americans use the most toilet paper in the world and wipe their way through 34 million rolls a day

You can responsibly get rid of most waste paper at home by placing it in your household recycling bin if it’s clean and dry. Most local councils and authorities accept paper in domestic bins, bags, or containers. If you’ve got lots of scrap paper you can also take it to your nearby household waste recycling centre (HWRC).

Businesses must arrange commercial waste collection of any paper. This involves separating and storing paper away from any other waste materials and booking removal by licensed waste carriers. They’ll transport it to a recycling facility for sorting, processing, and recycling.