Does Paper Recycling Benefit the Climate? It Depends
Freeman writes:
https://arstechnica.com/science/2020/10/does-paper-recycling-benefit-the-climate-it-depends/
For many people, the most familiar way to "go green" or "be eco-friendly" is probably paper recycling. (And perhaps its aging office cousin: "Consider a tree before you print this email.") There are many ways to evaluate the environmental benefits of such actions, and one of those is greenhouse gas emissions. So how does paper recycling stack up in this regard?
[...] A new study led by Stijn van Ewijk at Yale University tries to do the math on this, using practical scenarios for the next few decades. Namely, they calculate whether increasing paper recycling would make it easier or harder to hit emissions targets that would halt global warming at 2C.
[...] So if your focus is solely on reducing greenhouse gas emissions, paper recycling isn't the lever you pull. Instead, you target the factors surrounding paper recycling (and many other things). But given success on those things, increased paper recycling is perfectly consistent with global emissions targets. In the scenario with the most aggressive improvements, the researchers calculate that paper industry emissions could be slightly less than zero. That is, the growing amount of paper products in circulation would represent a bit more carbon than was released to make them.
Of course, paper recycling can have benefits separate from greenhouse gas emissions. Ideally, it helps reduce deforestation and habitat loss-which would also improve the bottom line for emissions. There are no sustainability silver bullets, but this study shows that paper recycling can at least fit in the puzzle.
On a side note, our University is going through a lot less paper since the start of the pandemic. I'd have to look at the numbers to say much, but it was practically non-existent when we went into lockdown mode, clear through the beginning of the Fall Semester in August of this year. We've also consumed less paper since the start of the semester. I'd guess it's due to teachers having an incentive to take advantage of technologies that don't require physical contact.
Journal Reference:
Stijn van Ewijk, Julia A. Stegemann, Paul Ekins. Limited climate benefits of global recycling of pulp and paper, Nature Sustainability (DOI: 10.1038/s41893-020-00624-z)
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