In 1972, the world woke up to a heart-jolting revelation when the first United Nations Conference on Environment took place between 5-16 June in Stockholm, Sweden. In the 12-day event, world leaders, dignitaries, renowned scientists, and environmentalists gathered together to discuss and debate the environmental impact of rapid industrialization and the deteriorating air and water quality in the world’s largest and most densely populated cities.

The facts and statistics that were presented at this conference were so startling that an action plan was drafted to protect the environment and human health from further damage.

Since then, countries around the world have played their part in making their cities and countries more sustainable and eco-friendly. Paper shredding, electronic shredding, and safe disposal of medical and other hazardous waste became a major part of this environmental protection plan.

Governments started to introduce laws that would prohibit people from discarding household and industrial waste irresponsibly in nearby empty lots, landfills, and water bodies like the lakes, rivers, streams, seas, and oceans.

 In many countries around the world, fines were introduced on illegal dumping of solid waste, and to avoid this problem, governments started to offer free of cost recycling. Residents were encouraged to drop their recyclable solid waste like paper, glass, electronics, metal, wood, and plastic at recycling centers.

Today, research has proven that paper shredding has a positive effect on our environment.

The Environmental Impact of Paper Shredding

According to the United States Environmental Protection Agency, nearly 67.4 million tons of paper waste is produced in America each year. But the recycling rate of paper waste was 68.2 percent in 2018. It means that only 46 million tons of paper waste are recycled in the USA.

Most recycling plants accept shredded paper waste for recycling as it is already in pieces that are small enough to be turned into paper mache.

Of course, the first reason why people choose to shred their documents is for confidentiality and to protect themselves from data theft and financial losses. But paper shredding is also becoming increasingly popular because paper shredding services around the world now send the shredded paper waste for recycling without any additional costs being charged to their customers.

Facts and Statistics

According to the findings of the University of Southern Indiana, every year, Americans use 85,000,000 tons of paper. To produce just one day’s newspaper, 500,000 trees are cut down. However, if we recycled every single copy of the New York Time’s Sunday newspaper, we could end up saving 75,000 trees.

It was further stated that just by recycling 2000 pounds of paper, we can save 17 trees, 2 cubic yards of landfill space, 380 gallons of oil, 4000 kilowatts of energy, and 7000 gallons of water! Meaning, for every 1 ton of paper waste that we recycle, we can efficiently reduce 64% of our energy consumption, 58% of our freshwater consumption, and reduce our air pollution by 60 pounds.

Moreover, it was found that some A-grade quality shredded papers like thin brown paper, newspaper, and notebook papers can be used for compost. You can mix it together with the organic waste to create natural manure for your gardens or farms and grow flowering plants or food crops to make the environment more sustainable.

Recycling shredded paper can help us conserve our already depleting freshwater resources. To manufacture just 1 kilogram of paper, we need 324 liters of water. But when you recycle the paper, you can save around 3.5 gallons of water for every 1 pound of paper.

Overview

Research has shown that shredding your old confidential documents can make a huge difference to the environment because most often, the paper shredding companies will send your shredded paper waste for recycling. Recycling the shredded paper waste saves the trees from being cut down and protects our forests from deforestation. The trees in the forest convert carbon dioxide to oxygen and thereby give us a constant supply of clean air. The trees are also a natural habitat for wildlife. Thousands of species of animals and plants obtain their nutrients from these trees.

Moreover, recycling the shredded paper waste conserves our freshwater resources, fossil fuel reserves, and reduces air pollution.

So, it can be rightly concluded that paper shredding has an overall positive impact on our environment, and therefore, this practice must be continued and expanded.

New Jersey Shredding

Here, at New Jersey Shredding, we offer our customers the best paper shredding, electronic shredding, medical waste destruction, and X-ray destruction services at an affordable price.

We take our environmental responsibility very seriously. After safely shredding your old confidential documents, we will send the shredded paper waste to a recycling plant without charging you any additional cost.

We are a HIPPA compliant shredding service in New Jersey and take immense care to destroy and dispose of all the non-recyclable electronic, medical, and hazardous waste according to government rules and regulations.

So, call us today at (201) 371-5900 to get a free quote, and you can also avail the limited time offer of a 10% discount on all our services.

New Jersey Shredding – Let Us Remind You What Great Service Looks Like!