Editing Paper (section)

== Environmental impact ==
The production and use of paper has a number of adverse effects on the environment.

Worldwide consumption of paper has risen by 400% in the past 40 years leading to increase in deforestation, with 35% of harvested trees being used for paper manufacture. Most paper companies also plant trees to help regrow forests. Logging of old growth forests accounts for less than 10% of wood pulp,<ref name="chase">{{cite web |url=http://www.ecology.com/feature-stories/paper-chase/index.html |title=Paper Chase |accessdate=21 September 2007 |last=Martin |first=Sam |date=2004 |work= |publisher=Ecology Communications, Inc. |archiveurl = https://web.archive.org/web/20070619104819/http://www.ecology.com/feature-stories/paper-chase/index.html <!-- Bot retrieved archive --> |archivedate = 19 June 2007}}</ref> but is one of the most controversial issues.

Paper waste accounts for up to 40% of total waste produced in the United States each year, which adds up to 71.6 million tons of paper waste per year in the United States alone.<ref>{{cite web|title=General Overview of What's In America's Trash |url=http://www.epa.gov/osw/wycd/catbook/what.htm |publisher=United States Environmental Protection Agency |accessdate=4 April 2012 |author=EPA |date=28 June 2006 |deadurl=yes |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20120105015733/http://www.epa.gov/osw/wycd/catbook/what.htm |archivedate=5 January 2012 |df= }}</ref> The average office worker in the US prints 31 pages every day.<ref>Groll, T. 2015 [http://www.zeit.de/karriere/2015-06/papier-enerige-sparen-unternehmen In vielen Büros wird unnötig viel ausgedruckt], Zeit Online, 20 June 2015.</ref> Americans also use in the order of 16 billion paper cups per year.

Conventional bleaching of wood pulp using elemental chlorine produces and releases into the environment large amounts of chlorinated organic compounds, including chlorinated dioxins.<ref name="can">{{cite web |url=http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/ewh-semt/pubs/contaminants/psl1-lsp1/pulp_mill_effluents_pate_blanchie/index_e.html |title=Effluents from Pulp Mills using Bleaching - PSL1 |accessdate=21 September 2007 |last= |first= |date=1991 |work={{ISBN|0-662-18734-2}} DSS |publisher=Health Canada}}</ref> Dioxins are recognized as a persistent environmental pollutant, regulated internationally by the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants. Dioxins are highly toxic, and health effects on humans include reproductive, developmental, immune and hormonal problems. They are known to be carcinogenic. Over 90% of human exposure is through food, primarily meat, dairy, fish and shellfish, as dioxins accumulate in the food chain in the fatty tissue of animals.<ref>
  {{cite web
    | title = Dioxins and their effects on human health
    | url = http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs225/en/
    | accessdate = 7 January 2015
    | date = June 2014
    | publisher = World Health Organization
    | quote = More than 90% of human exposure is through food
    | ref = refDioxinsEffectsHealth
  }}
</ref>