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Paper & Card Recycling Services
The paper fraction is one of the most important materials in Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) sector, comprising 20-25% of municipal waste generated in EU (the UK doesn’t report on these figures).Paper is biodegradable, hence the main greenhouse gas to be created from its decomposition in a landfill site is methane, a GHG with a warming potential over 20 times higher than carbon dioxide (but with a much shorter atmospheric lifetime, 10 years versus 100 yrs for CO2).One of the key benefits for paper recycling is the diversion of paper waste from either landfill or incineration and the avoidance of methane and/or carbon dioxide as a consequence.Paper & Card recycling
The WRAP ‘Environmental benefits of recycling 2010 update’ has studied a large number of Life Cycle analyses of paper/card recycling versus landfilling/recycling and has concluded thefollowing:-
1 tonne of paper/card recycled will save 1.4 tonnes of CO2e through avoiding landfill
1 tonne of paper/card recycled will save 0.62 tonnes of CO2e through avoiding incineration
Given that in the UK, approximately 90% of residual waste is landfilled with the remaining 10% incinerated, WRAP have concluded that an average CO2e saving for each tonne of paper/card recycled is 1.3 tonnes.
Quantifying the benefits
Producing recycled paper involves between 28 - 70% less energy consumption than virgin paper and uses less water. This is because most of the energy used in paper making is thepulping needed to turn wood into paper. Every tonne of paper diverted for recycling into more paper saves 3000-4000 kWh of electricity
Every tonne of paper recycling, saves 30,000 litres of water compared to virgin paper production.
Recycling one tonne of paper/card saves, on average, 1.3 tonnes of CO2e. So Shanks, by recycling 82,600 tonnes of paper/card in 2011, is saving 107,380 tonnes of CO2e each year coming from avoided landfill (and a small amount of incineration).
This is the equivalent to:The equivalent emissions from driving: 320 million miles
Enough CO2 to fill:166 billion cans of coke
228 million wheelie bins
9 million builders skips
36 millennium stadiums
If we take the more conservative estimate of kWh of electricity saved, ie for 1 tonne of paper recycled into more paper (closed loop) , approx. 3000 kWh of electricity are saved.
We can say that Shanks is saving 248 million kWhs of electricity if all of its paper recyclate was turned into recycled paper which equates to the power for:
2,392 UK schools for 1 year
55,384 UK homes powered for 1 year
9 billion cups of tea
For every tonne of paper that is recycled into more recycled paper, 30,000 litres of water are saved. So if every tonne of Shanks paper is closed loop recycled then 2.5 billion litres of water are saved.