An increasing number of governments have enacted legislation requiring that newsprint contain specified amounts of secondary fiber. Such policies are seen as a means to alleviate landfill problems and prevent trees from being harvested. The impact of legislation on these two issues is estimated for the period 1988#x2013;2010. The cumulative effects of the legislation are estimated to free up 3.4 of the requirements of total landfill space over this period, and to save 0.43 of the standing timber volume on productive forest land in North America. Instead of enacting newsprint recycling legislation, an alternative approach is to address the landfill and forestry issues separately with appropriate policies.
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