Paper Recycling - Recycling 101

The Paper Recycling Process: A Comprehensive Guide

Paper is made of fibers that become smaller every time you recycle it. Paper can be recycled around 5–7 times before it is downcycled into lower-quality products like tissues, newspapers, and egg cartons. How does the recycling process work?

Paper is the only "soft" recyclable material, making it susceptible to contamination from liquids, oils, and other materials. The cleaner a stream of materials is, the more valuable it is in the recycling process. For example, supermarkets that collect cardboard boxes separately from their mixed recycling will pay less for collection. While for an office it is not always feasible to collect paper on its own, wherever possible, separate it from glass as broken glass causes significant issues in processing.

After the paper is collected from residential or commercial sites, it is transported to a material recovery facility (MRF) for sorting from other materials like plastic and cans and is baled to be sent off to the recycler. Once at the recycling facility, the paper is sorted based on type, color, and quality. This step is crucial because different types of paper have distinct characteristics and recycling requirements. For instance, newspapers are sorted separately from cardboard. Sorting ensures that the paper is processed efficiently and reduces contamination, which can affect the quality of the recycled paper.

Pulping and Cleaning

The paper and cardboard are then shredded into small pieces and mixed with water and chemicals to create a slurry known as pulp. This pulp is then cleaned to remove any contaminants, such as staples, paper clips, tape, ink, glue, and other impurities. The cleaning process typically involves deinking, which uses flotation or chemical methods to separate ink from the paper fibers. The result is a clean, wet pulp ready for the next stage. The clean pulp is then fed into machines that process it into new paper products. The pulp is spread onto large screens to form a sheet, which is then pressed to remove excess water and dried. The dried sheets are rolled into large reels and can be used to manufacture a wide range of paper products, from office paper to cardboard.

Frequently Asked Questions about Recycling Paper

• Can I recycle receipts? Most thermal receipts, like the kind you get at any supermarket, include Bisphenol A (BPA), which not only makes them not recyclable but is actually harmful to people in high enough doses.

• Can I recycle glossy magazines/boxes? Standard glossy magazines and boxes are simply treated with minerals or pressure treatments. The paper remains recyclable; just make sure it's not lined with plastic or wax.

• Can I recycle paper towels & tissues? Tissues and paper towels normally contain residues like cleaning chemicals or food scraps that inhibit recycling. Also, they are usually made of paper that has already been recycled a few times, and the fibers are too small to be recycled again.

• Can I recycle shredded paper? Shredded paper is too small to be sorted and will end up falling off machinery.

• Can I recycle envelopes? The small amount of plastic that is used in an envelope window is removed in the recycling process, so you can recycle without concern.

• Can I recycle pizza boxes? Sometimes—remove any food remnants. If there is a significant amount of oil in the box, rip off the oily part and recycle the clean cardboard.

• Can I recycle coffee cups? Coffee cups are lined with plastic, which makes them not recyclable.

• Can I recycle paper with staples? Yes, staples are removed when it goes through the pulping process.

• Can I recycle drink cartons like Tetra Paks? These containers are made with a combination of plastic, foil, and paper and aren't collected kerbside.

• Can I recycle tissue paper? As with paper towels, the fibers in tissue paper are too short to be recycled; standard wrapping paper is recyclable if it passes the rip test.

• Can I recycle compostable packaging? Perhaps the most confusing of all is compostable packaging. While most appear to be made of cardboard, there are a wide variety of materials they can be made out of. So only put it in the recycling bin if the container is labeled as being made of paper and remember for something to be recyclable it needs to be free of food remnants.