this post was submitted on 14 Aug 2025
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Eh Buddy Hoser
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To find what? In most western countries 70-85% of the paper is recycled. Compared to plastic with 14% recycling rate in the EU and less than 5% in the US. And while plastic is mostly downcycled into lower quality items like garden benches and building materials, recycling paper is used for almost all kinds of products from newspapers to towels. 85% recycling is already close to the maximum possible as with every cycle the fibre lenghth decreases, so you have to replace some old paper with new material. But even then, the paper you have to throw out is just tree fibre and not some artificial material that takes 5000 years to decompose.