Paper Recycling Guidelines
With the health of our environment becoming a greater concern to many of us, programs designed to minimize the amount of waste we produce in our daily lives can be a good way to do our part for a cleaner world. Because paper makes up the largest percentage of municipal waste, recycling it can go a long way toward reducing the amount of garbage we put into our landfills each year.
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Paper Recycling
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Paper recycling is nothing new. The practice of using scraps and bits of reclaimed paper along with fresh wood pulp to form paper stock has been around for hundreds of years, and mills designed to recycle used linen into paper existed in the United States in the 17th century. It was only fairly recently, however, that a strong, nationwide movement to recycle and reclaim used paper products took hold, spurred by the environmental movements that sprung out of the 1960s and 1970s. Thanks in part to the publicity garnered by these movements, 1993 became the first year where more paper was recycled than thrown away.
The Process
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When paper is recycled, typically it is shredded and floated in a chemical bath designed to remove inks or chemicals that might have bonded to the paper. Different paper treatments require different processes to reclaim; glossy magazine paper, for instance, takes more processing than newsprint or copier paper. Once the ink and extraneous substances are removed, the resulting pulp can be reprocessed into paper, either by itself or by adding the recycled pulp to new stock.
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Limitations
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The de-inking and recycling process necessary to reclaim used paper products tends to damage wood fibers, so paper can often only be recycled a few times before the resulting pulp is too weak for commercial use. This is why many producers will use a percentage of recycled stock in addition to fresh pulp to offset the weaker, damaged fibers with new and strong ones.
Sorting
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Because different types of paper require different processes, some municipalities ask that different types of paper be separated. Check with your local collection services to ensure you're following their guidelines, as mixed trash must be sorted before it can be processed properly. Also, try to make an effort to ensure that paper and paper only goes into paper recycling bins; glass, plastic or other substances must be filtered out before the paper can be recycled.
Benefits
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Recycling reduces waste and reduces the number of trees that must be cut down each year to produce paper. On average, 37 percent of the pulp used to make new paper in America today comes from reclaimed stock, and the paper industry aims to increase reclamation to 60 percent by 2012. Recycling paper also saves energy used in felling trees and processing them, and it likewise reduces greenhouse gases caused by traditional production methods.
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