Paper Recycling

Recycling paper is the process of taking used paper products and creating new paper products from them. There are 3 types of paper material that can be used to produce recycled paper products; mill broke, pre-consumer and post-consumer.

Mill broke is the trimmings and scraps of paper that is left from the manufacturing of paper in paper mills.

Pre-consumer  is the paper that is discarded before it is actually distributed or used by consumers such as unsold materials.

Post-consumer  is the paper that has been used by the consumer and sent to the recycle center. In 2006 slightly more than 53 percent of consumed paper in the United States was recovered for recycling; yet paper products still make up the largest component of the city garbage pick up and makes up nearly 40 percent of the landfills.

The first major recycling center in the United States was started in New York City in 1897. They collected rags, newspaper and trash to be recycled into paper.

The process of recycling paper is pulping to separate the fibers, screening to remove contaminates and large pulp fibers.

It cleans it by mixing the pulp in a cleaning solution and spinning at high speeds then passing air through the slurry to create a foam that the ink left in paper and other contaminates will stick to and be removed, bleaching and finally the paper can then be made.

Books, magazines, paper plates and paper towels, computer and copy paper and even toilet paper can be made using recycled materials.

What is saved by using recycled materials to make paper versus raw materials is first and most obviously forests but also energy and landfill space as well as air and water pollution.

Approximately 90% of paper pulp is made from wood and over 40 percent of the wood harvested goes to making paper products.

Most paper companies raise trees for paper production; however, only about 16 percent of paper pulp is from these farmed trees.

It is estimated that recycling about half of the world’s paper could save about 20 million acres of forest.

It is estimated that using recycled material to make paper products saves between 40 and 60 percent of the energy that it takes to create paper products from raw material.

The recycling of 1 ton of paper material will save about 3 cubic meters of landfill space. This is about the size of a common bathroom or utility room at 8 foot long by 8 foot wide with 8 foot ceilings.

The United States EPA has found that using recycled materials in paper production causes 35 percent less water pollution and 74 percent less air pollution; however it does produce a polluting by-product called sludge.

Paper usage and waste is seen in massive amounts in the business world with American businesses generating enough paper to circle the globe 40 times every day.

Eliminating the amount of paper taken to the landfills would nearly double the landfill life; yet many homes and offices still dispose of their paper refuse in the daily trash.

You can take the initiative to help reduce this waste by recycling and reducing your usage of paper products by using used scrap paper for notes, bringing a washable cup for your coffee and using cloth towels for clean ups instead of paper towels.

Instead of printing off the office e-mails or office memos, do all of your editing before a document is printed and use smaller font with smaller margins to fit more words on each page thus reducing the amount of pages needed.

If your printer has the option you can also print on both sides of the page. Most importantly though, make sure the paper you use finds its way to the recycling center instead of the landfill.