When you pay $70 to have a tree planted, we’ll send you three boxes and three FedEx shipping labels at no extra charge.  Why three?  Because when you fill them up, they weigh about forty pounds each, or together, they represent the amount of paper that would come from one tree.

Some kinds of paper uses more trees than other kinds.  Here’s the calculation we use: 

1 ton = 2000 lbs. divided by 17 trees per ton = 118 pounds of paper per tree. 

The weight of the paper you put into a box for shredding and recycling varies, but it averages 40 lbs.  Therefore, 3 boxes = one tree.

Here are some paper facts using virgin paper pulp from trees:

1 ton of uncoated office paper uses 24 trees

1 ton of non-recycled newsprint uses 12 trees

1 ton of coated, higher-end magazine paper uses 15 trees

1 tree makes 16 reams of copy paper or 8,333 sheets


Recycling and Avoided Deforestation

 

Some organizations are working to reduce the deforestation occurring in developing countries, especially in tropical climates.  Our scope is more localized.  We believe recycling paper leading to less demand in virgin pulp is a worthy effort.  Then, planting a tree for every tree that is recycled contributes to a net increase in forests.  More forests means more carbon stored and more oxygen created.  We call that doing our part.