While it's true to say that easy and efficient to recycle doesn't necessarily mean less environmental impact, it's also true to say that it usually does. If two of the biggest factors leading to environmental impact are generation of waste and impractical methodology than efficiency and ease are absolutely going to have a high probability of helping to reduce said impact.

As for your other point, I have to ask where you got that information because it's blatantly untrue. It's just pure misinformation.

In determining the quality of recycled paper, there are many factors to consider including quality of the raw materials, ecological impact, and cost. Paper making is all about creating a slurry out of pulp and binding agents. When you recycle paper, you are only able to recover the pulp, and have to add new binding agents. It makes no sense to assert that the quality of pulp itself is subject to diminishing returns of quality where the final paper product is concerned.

I hope you aren't offended by my argument style. I appreciate having my research and beliefs challenged!