This includes 14 billion mail order catalogues. Most of this is thrown away unread. After a tetrapack paper carton factory opened in Hungary, the country's returnable bottle system collapsed within weeks. For a number of reasons, paper is a very good example of why it is better to consume less than to rely on recycling.
Recycling is difficult to do economically.
The market for paper is very unstable, with prices rising and falling suddenly. It's very hard to set up all the complicated systems needed to collect, sort, process and market recycled paper products under these conditions. Recycling paper doesn't do all that much to help the environment, compared to using less. Most people connect their idea of the environment with trees in some way. It is assumed that recycling paper must be a good thing because it saves trees.