I had a post a few months ago that claimed that if every household in America would buy just one roll of recycled toilet paper, over 500,000 trees would be saved. I have revisited that claim and have decided that the 500,000 figure is too high. Let me explain:According to the 2007 census, there are 111,162,259 households.
According to RISI, an independent market analysis firm in Bedford, Mass., the pulp from one eucalyptus tree, a commonly used tree, produces as many as 1,000 rolls of toilet tissue. Americans use an average of 23.6 rolls per capita a year. There are 304,059,724 Americans in 2008 according to the census.
If each household bought one recycled roll of toilet tissue, it would actually save 111,162 trees. That is still a staggering number but it is not close to 500,000. I actually got that number from a couple of articles I read and I should have done the math myself.
The number of trees saved by everybody switching to recycled paper would be huge. If the population of the U.S. of 304,059,724 times 23.6 rolls per capita were all recycled, it would total 7,175,809,486 rolls for a saving of 7,175,809 trees.
What do you think? Does this all check out for you? I know I am doing my part and I hope more people do their part.
