Recycling Factoids: Recycled Paper

Making paper from recycled paper reduces air pollution by 95%.

National Recycling Coalition

Paper Factoids: Water Use in Paper Manufacturing

The pulp and paper industry is the single largest consumer of water used in industrial activities in OECD countries and is the third greatest industrial greenhouse gas emitter, after the chemical and steel industries (OECD Environmental Outlook, p. 218)

From the Environmental Paper Network

Recycling and Global Warming

In 2000, recycling of solid waste prevented the release of 32.9 million metric tons of carbon equivalent (MMTCE, the unit of measure for greenhouse gases) into the air.

National Recycling Coalition

Campaign to Reduce Paper: Change the Margins

The Campaign To Change the Margins:

Tamara Krinsky has devised an elegantly simple campaign that should warm the heart of anyone trying to promote sustainable living: reduce the default margin setting on your word-processing program. She has helpfully tallied up some of the environmental benefits if every American reduced the margin setting to .75" on all sides of their documents (from the current default of 1.25").

we would save:

-6,156,000 trees

-9,840,368 million British thermal units (Btus), which is enough energy to provide power to 108,136 homes

- 1,459,535,366 pounds of greenhouse gas emissions, which is equivalent to the emissions of 132,528 cars

-584,396,539 lbs of solid waste, which is the equivalent of 20,871 fully loaded garbage trucks

- 4.8 billion gallons wastewater, which is enough to fill 7,408 Olympic-sized swimming pools

Comment:
Tamara Krinsky's site should serve as a model for those trying to devise green campaigns. She has a very specific proposal that could not be simpler to implement. It will yield significant cost savings in addition to the environmental benefits. It does away with a usually invisible form of waste, for which there is no benefit: having extra white space surrounding your documents does nothing to improve them, and eliminating it will not affect any conceivable performance measure.

She has also focused on a handful of corporate and institutional targets who could serve as a first wave in the widespread adoption of this measure. Her site includes a petition to Microsoft to adjust the default settings on their software, which would probably accomplish the goals of her campaign without the necessity of persuading a single word-processor--for how many people would go back and change the settings? Until then, however, it is up to us to put in place her excellent recommendations and spread the word to our friends and colleagues.

See Change the Margins for more on the benefits of reducing the margins on your documents.

Paper Factoids: Recycled Vs. Virgin

Compared to using virgin wood, paper made with 100% recycled content uses 44% less energy, produces 38% less greenhouse gas emissions, 41% less particulate emissions, 50% less wastewater, 49% less solid waste and -- of course --uses 100% less wood.

From "15 Facts about the Paper Industry, Global Warming and the Environment" at The Daily Green.

Paper Factoids: Office Paper Use

The average office worker uses 10,000 sheets (20 reams) of copy paper each year.

Office Paper at reduce.org

Paper Factoids: Reducing Office Paper

If the United States cut office paper use by just 10% (or about 2 reams per office worker) it would prevent the emission of 1.6 million tons of greenhouse gases -- the equivalent of taking 280,000 cars off the road.

From "15 Facts about the Paper Industry, Global Warming and the Environment" at The Daily Green.

Paper Factoids: Percentages of Different Kinds of Paper

From the Environmental Paper Network

US Paper and Paperboard Production, 2000 (AF & PA)

Paper Factoids: What We Throw Away

Americans throw away enough office paper each year to build a 12-foot high wall stretching from New York to San Francisco—that's 10,000 or so sheets per person!

From reduce.org

Paper Factoids: Copy Paper

Printing and writing paper account for about one-half of U.S. paper production.

From reduce.org

Paper Factoids: Trees into Paper

42% of the industrial wood harvest is used to make paper.

From "15 Facts about the Paper Industry, Global Warming and the Environment" at The Daily Green.

Paper Factoids: Industrial Greenhouse Emissions

The paper industry is the 4th largest contributor to greenhouse gas emissions among United States manufacturing industries, and contributes 9% of the manufacturing sector's carbon emissions.

From "15 Facts about the Paper Industry, Global Warming and the Environment" at The Daily Green.

Setting Priorities: My family in 2008

Having used last week's post to sum up my family’s achievements in reducing our carbon footprint during 2007, I will continue in the January tradition by forming resolutions for 2008. This is not quite as feel-good a process as tallying up our victories. For one thing, we have made a lot of the easier (for us) changes. Most of our bulbs are CFLs, we are very conscientious about recycling, we even compost; as New Yorkers we already rely heavily on public transportation. Other potential changes— for example reducing air travel or canceling our two newspaper subscriptions—would require actions that go by the highly-charged name of “sacrifice.” Changing to CFLs and starting worm composting felt like improvements—they saved money or were interesting. Cutting our newspapers would require reading them online which I hate.

But without making specific promises that may not be met, here are some areas that I would like our family to emphasize in the coming year:

Target #1: Reduce Paper
Switch the rest of my accounts to online billing
Reduce the deluge of junk mail and catalogues
Reduce paper at work

Target #2: Food
Reduce our consumption of meat
Increase our consumption of fruit, vegetables, and legumes
Make more of an effort to get “local” food
Stop drinking bottled water
Reduce food waste


Starting with target #1, reducing paper:

At a recent Green Drinks, a monthly "meet and greet" for New Yorkers concerned about environmental issues, two people separately admitted that they do not recycle at all. Given New York's mandatory but also fairly user-friendly program, I found that somewhat disheartening--if even environmentalists can't be bothered, it is hard to see how New York is going to increase its already modest participation rates which appear stuck at about 50%.

So to encourage holdouts to begin recycling and everyone to reduce paper, Green Factoids will devote the next series of posts to facts about paper.

Taking Stock: 2007

Green Factoids returns after a 2 month hiatus during which work pressures left little time for other activities. I will brave the risk of falling into the well-worn cliches of the season in order to look at what I have personally accomplished in the past year in my goal to develop a more sustainable lifestyle.

Successes:

I have managed to cut my family’s monthly and daily electricity use roughly in half. After 6 months of tracking our use, I can confidently say that our low kWh readings are not a fluke. I have made the following changes which have helped bring this about (in order of impact):
1. switching every light-bulb I can to CFLs, especially in the most heavily used rooms
2. becoming much more careful about not leaving lights on
3. using our 350 watt halogen fixtures as little as possible
4. replacing our ancient air-conditioner with an EnergyStar model
5. cutting way back on our air-conditioning
6. adjusting the controls so that my computer sleeps after 2 minutes
7. putting my printer, modem, computer and hard drive on a power strip and turning them off most nights

I switched our electricity supplier to one that relies on wind and low-impact hydro-electric.

I switched from traveling by car to traveling by subway on roughly half my commutes.

I started worm composting in my apartment.

I made “sustainability” an express issue on the syllabus of the courses I teach, emphasizing strategies for reducing paper. In addition to distributing all assignments by email, I encouraged my students to hand in their essays printed on the clean side of scrap paper—of whatever color. I set the example by printing my exams and other materials on scrap paper. I also asked that they eliminate title pages and other opportunities for white space and waste. I would estimate that about a third of my students took advantage of my request, saving about 300 sheets of virgin paper. I also printed out the final essay (submitted by email) on scrap paper, saving about another 300 sheets. Not exactly an enormous reduction of impact, but I believe that the gesture raised my students’ awareness of sustainability in a low-key way that did not involve preaching or departing from the “official” curriculum—18th-century literature. I believe that those students who participated have likely changed their paper habits permanently—as have I. I am going to continue to do this for all of my classes, and also suggest it to my colleagues.

CMI: Building and Appliance Efficiency

Continuing our segment on the Carbon Mitigation Initiative, Green Factoids will consider in more detail the areas which might be capable of providing a whole or partial wedge. In several papers, lead scientists Stephen Pacala and Robert Socolow outline 15 options, each of which could produce one wedge if fully deployed. Seven wedges are needed in order to stabilize the atmospheric CO2 concentrations. Each wedge represents the reduction of 25 billion tons CO2 over the next 50 years, or 1 billion tons per year by 2054.

Category one: ENERGY EFFICIENCY AND CONSERVATION


Energy Efficient Buildings:

Roughly one wedge could be achieved if we install the most efficient lighting, appliances, space heating and cooling, and water heating, and improve insulation in every new and existing building by 2054. Doing so would reduce CO2 emissions by buildings by about one quarter.

One half of these savings are in buildings in developing countries.

They estimate that approximately one quarter of a wedge could be achieved just by switching all incandescent bulbs to CFL's.

Next Post: U.S. Government Efficiency Programs

CMI's Stabilization Categories

Continuing our look at the Carbon Mitigation Initiative, here is a list of the different categories, and the most promising possibilities within those categories, that could be capable of producing a whole or partial wedge of abated emissions. Each wedge effectively prevents 1 billion tons of CO2 emissions per year, or 25 billion tons over the next half century. To stabilize atmospheric carbon concentrations, seven wedges are required.

Wedge Summary Table Category Technology Efficiency Efficient vehicles Reduced use of vehicles Efficient buildings Efficient baseload coal plants Decarbonization of power Gas baseload power for coal baseload power Capture CO2 at baseload power plant Nuclear power for coal power Wind power for coal power PV power for coal power Decarbonization of fuel Capture CO2 at H2 plant Capture CO2 at coal-to-synfuels plant Wind H2 in fuel-cell car for gasoline in hybrid car Biomass fuel for fossil fuel Forests and agricultural soils Reduced deforestation, plus reforestation, afforestation, and new plantations Conservation tillage

The Carbon Mitigation Initiative

In previous posts I have referred to the Carbon Mitigation Initiative, pioneered by Robert Socolow and Stephen Pacala, both of Princeton. As part of their work they have designed a "Stabilization triangle" that illustrates our current emissions trajectory if nothing is done, an increase that will lead to the tripling of CO2 concentration in the atmosphere, and a flat trajectory that will prevent the doubling of concentrations.

In their words:
"In order to avoid a doubling of CO2 and dramatic climate change, society needs to act quickly to deploy low-carbon energy technologies and enhance natural carbon sinks.
The "stabilization wedges" concept illustrates the scale of emissions cuts needed in the future, and provides a common unit for comparing the carbon mitigating capacities of various energy and storage technologies."

Implementing these reductions would prevent 200 billion tons of CO2 emissions between now and 2054. Each of the seven wedges represents reduction in the rate of emissions of 1 billion tons per year by 2054, or 25 billion over the whole period. Their wedges fall into five basic categories: energy conservation, renewable energy, enhanced natural sinks, nuclear energy, and fossil carbon management. All of these reductions can be made using existing and readily available technology, which does not mean that the political and social will is there. In my upcoming posts, I would like to look at some of their numbers, which help illustrate the scope of the challenge and provide a sobering reminder that every nation and sector of society must be involved, and that the average individual only has control over a small part of this effort.

Targeting Methane: Manure

From the EPA web site:

Methane emissions occur whenever animal waste is managed in anaerobic conditions. Liquid manure management systems, such as ponds, anaerobic lagoons, and holding tanks create oxygen free environments that promote methane production. Manure deposited on fields and pastures, or otherwise handled in a dry form, produces insignificant amounts of methane. Currently, livestock waste contributes about 8 percent of human-related methane emissions in the U.S. Given the trend toward larger farms, liquid manure management is expected to increase.

AgSTAR is an outreach program designed to reduce methane emissions from livestock waste management operations by promoting the use of biogas recovery systems. A biogas recovery system is an anaerobic digester with biogas capture and combustion to produce electricity, heat or hot water.

The AgSTAR Program has been very successful in encouraging the development and adoption of anaerobic digestion technology. Since the establishment of the program in 1994, the number of operational digester systems has grown to more than 125 systems across the United States. This has produced significant environmental and energy benefits, including methane emission reductions in 2007 alone of approximately 80,000 metric tons and energy generation of about 275 million kWh. The graph below shows the historical use of biogas recovery technology for animal waste management.

The development of anaerobic digesters for livestock manure treatment and energy production has accelerated at a very fast pace over the past few years. Factors influencing this market demand include: increased technical reliability of anaerobic digesters through the deployment of successful operating systems over the past five years; growing concern of farm owners about environmental quality; an increasing number of state and federal programs designed to cost share in the development of these systems; increasing energy costs and the desire for energy security; and the emergence of new state energy policies (such as net metering legislation) designed to expand growth in reliable renewable energy and green power markets.

Since 2003, methane reductions from operational digester systems have increased almost four fold.

Comment: As with landfill gas, the beauty of the manure digesters is that they not only trap a potent greenhouse gas, but they use that gas to generate electricity--electricity that might otherwise be generated by burning coal.

While the EPA is on the right track, at 125 systems they have just gotten started. According to their own numbers, an 80,000 metric ton reduction represents only about .2% of the 41 million metric tons of methane emissions that come from manure every year. But by some estimates, digesters would be cost-effective on about 7000 dairy and pig farms. These would have a generating capacity of about 722 MW, enough to power about 144,000 homes, and would reduce greenhouse emissions by about 30 million metric tons--the same as removing 4.7 million cars from the road.

One policy point: Given how important the agriculture sector is to tackling climate change, it is especially important that the environmental movement give farmers our support when our interests align. We will need their good will to push more far-reaching changes such as conservation tillage. We should strongly support greatly increased subsidies for biogas digesters--we will be giving farmers another source of income while at the same time preventing water and air pollution as well as methane emissions.

Targeting Methane: Landfill Gas

The EPA is working to reduce landfill gas (LFG) emissions, which represent about 25% of human caused methane emissions. Whether through their program or through other means, U.S. LFG emissions are significantly down. Between 1990 and 2004, landfill methane emissions declined by 18%, or 31.4 million metric tons (CO2 equivalent) per year--that represents about .5% of total U.S. greenhouse gas emissions for 2004.

The EPA's Landfill Methane Outreach Program:

Accomplishments since program launch in 1994 include the following:

• As of December 2006, LMOP has more than 600 Partners that have signed voluntary agreements to work with EPA to develop cost-effective LFG energy projects.
• LMOP has developed detailed profiles for over 1,300 candidate landfills.
• There are approximately 425 operational LFG energy projects in the United States. In addition, about 120 projects are currently under construction or are exploring development options and opportunities.
• To date, LMOP has assisted in the development of approximately 330 LFG utilization projects - including 32 new projects and 9 project expansions that went online in 2006. These 330 projects have prevented the release of over 24 million metric tons of carbon equivalent (MMTCE - the basic unit of measure of greenhouse gases) into the atmosphere over the past 12 years.
• In the year 2006, all operational LFG energy projects in the United States prevented the release of over 20 MMTCE.
• This reduction is the carbon equivalent of removing the emissions from nearly 14 million vehicles on the road or planting nearly 20 million acres of forest for one year.
• These reductions also have the same environmental benefit as preventing the use of over 169 million barrels of oil or offsetting the use of over 356,000 railcars of coal.

The graph below illustrates the growth of LFG utilization projects before and after LMOP’s inception. The first LMOP-assisted projects started in 1995, as illustrated by the shaded portion atop the 1995 bar. After 1995, the projects are divided into two categories, those that fall under the New Source Performance Standards/Emission Guidlines (NSPS/EG - in blue) and those that don’t (in yellow). Within those two categories, the shaded lines illustrate LMOP assistance. Since 1995, there has been growth in all of the above mentioned areas.

The graph below illustrates LMOP's emission reduction goals as well as performance in relation to these goals. In 2001-2006, LMOP met its goal and anticipates that in future years will continue to meet increasing emission reductions. For 2006, we have broken down the source of the reductions into its three primary components - electricity generation, direct-use, and flaring.

Recycling in NYC

Here are some waste Factoids from the Council on the Environment of New York City:

NYC residents produce 12,000 tons of waste every day.

Non-recyclable waste generated in New York City is packed on long-haul trucks and driven to landfills in states like Pennsylvania, Ohio and Virginia.

Much of Manhattan’s waste is incinerated across the Hudson in Newark, NJ.

Paper waste that is properly separated from regular garbage is recycled locally or is processed for further recycling overseas. Glass, metal and plastics collected at the curbside are sent to New Jersey, where they are processed and sent to various recycling markets.

Waste in New York City

• New York City residents currently recycle only about 17% of their total waste—half of what is possible to recycle under the current program.
• 7.5% of our waste stream consists of plastic film such as bags from the grocery store
• Clothing and textiles make up 5.7% of our garbage.

Does Recycling Work?

• Paper recycling makes money for NYC, netting $7.5 million after the costs of collection, though almost 15% of our paper is still thrown in the garbage.
• Exporting municipal waste for disposal in other communities will cost New York City taxpayers $290 million in 2007.

Food Recycling?

• 39% of NYC’s waste is organic material, like food scraps and yard waste. Instead of burying this waste in a landfill, it can be composted. Compost is a nutrient-rich, soil-like material made from broken down (i.e. “recycled”) organic material and is a cost-effective, better-quality alternative to chemical fertilizers.
• Each year, the world mines 139 million tons of phosphate and 20 million tons of potash to replace the nutrients that crops remove from the soil.
• When New York City collects trees and yard waste for composting, we offset the cost of collection by saving money in landscaping--the program pays for itself!
  

Waste Less, Breathe More

• Diesel trucks carry Manhattan’s garbage 7.8 million miles every year. That’s the equivalent of driving more than 312 times around the earth!
• Landfills are responsible for 36% of all methane emissions in the US, one of the most potent causes of global warming.

Close the Loop – Buy Recycled

• More than 90 percent of printing and writing paper still comes from virgin tree fiber

Comment: our family has officially started "vermiculture," or worm composting of fruits and vegetable waste. We can also compost non-recyclable paper like napkins and paper towels. Look for more information in upcoming posts.