How Does Recycled Paper Become New Paper?

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In this day and age, it is more important than ever to be environmentally-conscious and recycle as much as we can. More than any other type of material, paper is thrown away the most, which means it is taking up a tremendous part of our landfill space. Newspapers take up about 14 percent and paper in packaging takes up another 15 to 20 percent---about 29 to 34 percent total! For every 100 pounds of trash thrown away, 35 pounds of it is paper products. If a paper is made out of recycled materials, it will usually be indicated on the product. For paper to be recycled and then reused as a new product, it must undergo a simple process.

Recycling

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First, a person must recycle the paper product. This means that someone will choose against throwing a piece of paper into a trash bin and will instead place it in the proper recycling bin. Paper that can be recycled is not simply notebook paper, it also includes posters, cardboard boxes, newspaper, magazines, paperback books and more. Like all other recyclable materials, paper products should be separated. High-gloss paper should typically be removed and discarded. Also, cardboard boxes should be separated from newspapers.

Paper pulp from static.howstuffworks.com
If a paper product contains any ink, the ink must be removed before it can be broken down to be recreated into new papers. The de-inking process involves applying a chemical to the paper which removes ink from the paper fibers. This process also removes contaminates like fillers, clays, and fiber fragments from the paper.

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The paper is chopped up into small chips which will then be combined with pulp. Typically, recycled paper materials will be blended with fresh wood chips to increase the strength of their fibers. Lignin is a chemical within a tree that acts as a glue to hold the pulp together. The pulping process separates this lignin from the fibers.

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In paper mills, the recycled paper and the fresh wood pulp are reshaped on machines to take the form of new paper. Most papers can be recycled, though some recycling plants may ask that high-gloss papers not be included with recycled materials, as most of these contain clay which are difficult to reuse. Unlike other recyclable materials, paper can typically not be recycled repeatedly. After a point, the paper becomes weak and the fibers will no longer bind correctly.