Recycling is a big concern these days and almost everyone has a recycle bin within their homes. However, whilst we all throw away our spare paper, how much do we really know about where that paper goes and how it gets recycled? Most of us have no clue as to where our recycling waste goes, so wouldn’t it be a good idea to find out just where our waste does go and how exactly we are contributing to making the world a better place?

How Paper Recycling Works

Recycled paper is basically paper that has been run through a paper mill at least twice. The fibres are rescued and put back together to form a clear sheet of paper and that paper can be taken from a number of different things including:

· Newspaper
· Packaging
· Office stationery

So whatever paper you put into your recycle bin can be turned into recycled paper. But just where does it go when it leaves your recycle box?

Before any paper can be recycled, it first needs to be sorted out. So it will be taken to be sorted out into piles depending upon the grade of the paper. Now this is a fairly big job as there is known to be up to 50 different grades of paper. Each one will obviously need to be recycled differently and so they need to be put together before anything can actually be done with the pieces of paper.

Now when it comes to the quality of the paper, obviously the quality will affect what the paper can be used for. So when the piles have been sorted out, it will then be determined what they will be used to create. For example, if you are recycling low quality paper, then it will mainly end up being used as the middle layer of packaging. Higher quality paper on the other hand will be turned into either writing or printing paper.

Practically any paper that you throw into your recycle bin can be turned into something. So the next time you are considering what to throw away and what to recycle, remember that all the paper has a use.

How Waste Paper Usage Has Changed

A few years ago, waste paper would have simply just have been taken to the landfill. However, as time has gone on, waste paper has proven to be invaluable within the paper and board industry. Now it is used for a large number of things, though there are times when it simply cannot be used.

As a rule, the fibres in paper can only be recycled a certain number of times. Usually this is six times before the paper is then too weak to be created into something else. So there does come a time when you will not be able to recycle some paper that you have and generally it will let you know on the paper packaging itself whether it can be recycled or not.
Overall, if you have never wondered what happens to the paper that you put into your recycle bin, then it would definitely be a good idea to do a little research.

Editors’ notes:
NowRecycle.co.uk is a trading style of Plastic Omnium Systems Ltd - a European market leader in waste containment solutions that provides a wide range of waste containers and services including wheeled bins, litter bins, banks, composters and sacks. It is part of the International Plastic Omnium Group, a world leader in contract waste container solutions with worldwide sales of more than £1.8 billion. It employs over 9,000 people in 25 countries, across four continents, in manufacturing and service solutions for the automotive, environment and performance plastic products.
Press Contact: Simon Dutta, N European Marketing Director, Plastic Omnium Urban Systems Ltd
Telephone: 01952 582 583

This entry was posted on Monday, November 26th, 2007 at 10:20 am and is filed under Recycling Tips. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.