"Go Green" Tip of the Week

At the Green Team meeting on Tuesday, someone mentioned the fact that several people in one office get the exact same professional catalogs every month. Check with other staff members in your office about what catalogs, journals or magazines they receive to see if some sharing can be done.

Facts about Catalogs
Each year, 19 billion catalogs are mailed to American consumers. Because most have glossy covers, many people think the product’s recycling potential goes down to zero. Catalogs and magazines with glossy covers have some of the lowest recycling rates. These catalogs and paper products in landfills increase the amount of level of methane gas emissions. Methane gas has a significant carbon footprint: methane is about 21 times more powerful at retaining heat than carbon dioxide.

The catalog industry takes a serious toll on our environment. According to Catalog Choice, a project sponsored by the Ecology Center, these 19 billion catalogs have a serious environmental impact:

• 53 million trees used
• 3.6 million tons of paper used
• 38 billion Btu (British thermal units) of energy used to produce this paper, enough to power 1.2 million homes for a year
• 5.2 million tons of carbon dioxide emissions, equal to the annual emissions of two million cars
• 53 billion gallons of water used, enough to fill 81,00 Olympic-sized swimming pools
  

Most catalog companies don’t use recycled paper; many use bleach and gloss-coated paper productions which release chemical toxins into the environment. If your municipal recycling program accept paper, it accepts catalogs. If you do have select catalogs you subscribe to, be sure to put them in your recycling bin. To find out more about recycling catalogs in your area, use Earth911.
from earth.911