If Americans recycled every phone book each year, an estimated 650,000 tons of paper could be saved. Recycling half the world's paper would free 20 million acres of forest land. Recycling one stack of newspapers about 6 feet tall saves the life of one tree 35 feet tall. Recycling approximately 1 ton of newspaper saves 17 trees. This means that every ton of recycled paper keeps almost 60 pounds of populations out of the atmosphere that would have been produced if the paper had been manufactured from virgin resources.
Recycled paper is made to the same standards as paper made from virgin pulp.
Moreover, recycled paper has features which make it more desirable than virgin paper, such as being more opaque, dense, and flexible. We then have to treat and dispose of 84 lbs.