How 1.6 Million Tonnes Of Paper A Year Are Made In Portugal | Big Business. If we are genuinely recycling paper, why are we still cutting down trees? The evidence is that buildings, in particular residential buildings need to be modernised to address the importance of paper recycling. The man hours committed to recycling are similar to the man hours involved in cutting down trees except the man hours involved in recycling are conservational and should lead to no hours involved in tree cutting.