The Environmental Importance of Office Paper Recycling

Office Paper Recycling

I. Introduction

Environmental science is concerned with the global impact of human activity on the planet. Indeed, at the dawn of this new century, close to 25 percent of the earth’s usable water is contaminated. In addition, during the last hundred years, we have increased the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, by burning fossil fuels, such as coal and petroleum and in so doing we have increased the amount of gases in the atmosphere. The result is that more heat is trapped in the system, increasing the global temperature by 1° C (about 1.8° F).

Because the earth is a closed system, these issues are of major concern to environmentalists. As the “Gaia Hypothesis” states it, we are sustained by a single living system, meaning that we rely on it for our survival, in which all the parts are interconnected and everything we do affects it globally. For instance, as more heat is trapped in the atmosphere, the temperature increases, affecting precipitation, the rain becomes acid, which in turn affect our food production and our fresh water supply, ultimately it affects all the living system on the planet. Basically, in such a system there is no “away” in “throwing away,” hence, over the last decade people and companies started being aware of it and therefore acknowledged the need to “recycle.”

II. Recycling

Recycling refers to collecting and reprocessing resources into new products. The resources on earth are not all renewable, and recycling means that we could create systems where wastes become resources again, which is called closed-loop recycling.

“Recycling paper involves removing its ink, glue, and coating and reconverting it to pulp that is pressed again into new paper....

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... that only SIS and the Physical Plant department use some and that it is not mandatory. Apparently, increasing the demand for recycled paper would spare a lot of energy in terms of bleaching paper with chemicals over and over again. The point is that A.U.’ s effort is definitely a step toward a more self-sustained system, but as long as it rely on outside providers to bring and collect the paper, the loop is not 100 percent closed, nor efficient.

Bibliography:

Consevatree Greenline. Available at: http://conservatree.com

Environmental Protection Agency. Available at: http://www.epa.gov

Miller, Tyler G. Jr. "Living in the Environment", (Pacific Grove, CA: Brooks/Cole publishing company, 2000).

Microsoft Encarta 98 Encyclopedia, (1993-1997 Microsoft Corporation)

National Recycling Coalition. Available at: www.recycle.net/index.html