Skip to main content

Celebrate and Do Your Part During America Recycles Week

This week the American Forest & Paper Association celebrates America Recycles Week and the many people who help make paper recycling possible in the United States. 

Perhaps you’re one of the millions of Americans who recycle paper and paper-based packaging at home. This week is an important reminder that we can all do our part to recycle more.  

There’s also an entire industry committed to investing in the future of paper recycling. The paper and paper-based packaging manufactures are also applying innovative technologies to capture previously hard to recycle items, like paper cups

The $4.1 billion investment in U.S. recycling capacity is evidence alone for how important recycling is to the paper and paper-based packaging supply chain. But we can’t do without your help. 

You can keep the momentum going by making paper recycling more convenient inside your home. Start by placing recycling bins in common areas of your home, like a home office, bathroom, or kitchen. Also, boxes coming into your house should go in the recycle bin too.  

That’s especially important to keep in mind as the holidays are near. Boxes that protect e-commerce orders are easy to recycle. Just remember to remove any non-paper box packing materials, flatten the box, keep it dry and put it in the bin.  

The American Forest & Paper Association (AF&PA) serves to advance public policies that foster economic growth, job creation and global competitiveness for a vital sector that makes the essential paper and packaging products Americans use every day. The U.S. forest products industry employs more than 925,000 people, largely in rural America, and is among the top 10 manufacturing sector employers in 44 states. Our industry accounts for approximately 4.7% of the total U.S. manufacturing GDP, manufacturing more than $435 billion in products annually. AF&PA member companies are significant producers and users of renewable biomass energy and are committed to making sustainable products for a sustainable future through the industry’s decades-long initiative — Better Practices, Better Planet 2030