Reducing Our Use of Trees

Though we make up less than 5% of the world’s population, Americans consume more than a quarter of the world’s harvested wood. Therefore, it’s up to those of us who live in the U.S. to lead the way in reducing wood consumption to sustainable levels.

Much of our wood consumption goes toward disposable, non-essential products. Americans mow down 27 million trees a year simply to mop up spills with paper towels. Sixty-two million trees per year are pulped to make junk mail, according to the U.S. government, while many sustainability organizations cite an even higher figure of 100 million. The annual holiday season leaves more than 5 million tons of discarded wrapping paper behind on American living room floors.

It won’t take a large sacrifice to bring these shocking statistics down. We can all do our part to use a fairer and more sustainable share of the Earth’s resources, taking action to preserve forests every day in our homes, with our friends and colleagues, and in our communities.

Suggested First Steps:

USE CLOTH NAPKINS AND DISHTOWELS
and forget about the paper versions forever.

USE CLOTH SHOPPING BAGS
They’re lightweight, collapsible, and can hang out in your car or slip inside a backpack without taking up too much room until you need them at the grocery store or other retail establishment.

WRAP ALL GIFTS IN REUSABLE MATERIALS
(cloth scraps, scarves, or cloth bags) or in waste paper (newspaper comics, brown paper bags, etc.) that will then be recycled.

BE MINDFUL ABOUT EXCESS PACKAGING
Buy items with minimal or no paper packaging, and look for companies that package their items in recycled materials.

BRING REUSABLE CONTAINERS TO RESTAURANTS
for take-out, instead of relying on their disposable paper and plastic containers.

ELIMINATE JUNK MAIL
Call or write to catalogs, nonprofits, magazines, and other companies and ask them not to share your name. When you do receive junk mail, call the company and ask it to remove your name from its list. Contact the Direct Marketing Association to remove yourself from as many lists as possible.

PAY YOUR BILLS ONLINE
Most credit cards and many utilities now offer online payment options that can help you reduce your use of envelopes, checks, and paper bills. If online billing isn’t an option, or if you prefer to receive paper invoices for your records, you can call your credit card company and ask it to stop including junk-mail “inserts” with your statement.

RECYCLE ALL WASTE PAPER
If your town doesn’t offer curbside pick-up, find a recycling facility near you.

BUY RECYCLED OR TREE-FREE
whenever you must purchase a paper product, including computer paper, manila folders, sticky notes, toilet paper, etc. Every paper product you might need has a recycled or tree-free version available. This site has a directory of places to shop for paper.