Recycling positively impacts a community and its environment. Everyone has the potential to make a significant contribution. And why wouldn’t you want to? Recyclables have value to manufacturers, as 78 percent of U.S. papermakers use some recovered fiber to make their products. Also, recovered paper supplies more than 36 percent of the raw material used to make new paper products that many of us use every day.

Much of todays discarded material, especially paper, comes from businesses. According to the U.S. EPA, commercial sources like office buildings, schools, and institutions, make up about 35 to 45 percent of all municipal solid waste. About 93 percent of all office waste by weight is paper. Most of which, can be recycled. Still, less than half of all office papers are recycled. To increase the amount of recycled materials available for new products, more office papers and other paper products need to be recycled.

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• Community Recycling Guide
  
• Workplace Recycling Guide
  
• Tools for Teachers
  

Young people play an active role in paper recycling in their homes, schools, and communities. Recycling has a positive impact on the environment, adds jobs to the U.S. economy and turns used products into new ones. While many children collect and separate recyclables at home, they may not be aware that many of the paper products they use every day in their classroom such as books, notebook paper, puzzles, and game boxes contain recycled fiber. Schools represent a significant source of paper that can be recovered for recycling.

"Recycle! Its A Plus for the Environment" - brought to you through a partnership between Project Learning Tree and the American Forest & Paper Association - will help motivate your students to take action. The poster shows how their choice to put used paper in the recycling bin starts a chain of events giving that paper new life as computer paper, grocery bags, newspapers, cardboard boxes, cereal boxes, and more - items that are themselves recyclable in many communities.

Making Paper demonstrates a standards-based Project Learning Tree classroom activity, while also educating students about the actual paper making process.