How to Recycle Carbon Paper
Carbon paper has a wax carbon coating on the outside that prevents it from being recycled through most paper recycling facilities. Some advancements in recycling in recent years, however, allow you to recycle the paper if you have removed the carbon coating on the outside of the paper. Recycling carbon paper takes some basic preparation.
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Instructions
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1
Fill your pot 3/4 of the way full with water. Place it on the burner and turn the burner on to high. Bring the water to a boil.
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2
Place your piece of carbon paper gently into the boiling water. Let it soak in the boiling water for 10 to 15 minutes. The carbon from the paper will separate and start to float to the surface of the water. Shut off your burner.
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3
Skim your hand-held mesh strainer along the surface of the water to remove the carbon. Gently remove the paper from the water with your tongs.
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4
Place the wet paper into your paper squeezer to remove the water and remaining carbon. Run the paper through the squeezer gently by turning the crank clockwise. Repeat steps 1 through 4 several times until no more carbon from the paper floats to the surface of the water. You have removed the carbon from your paper and can take the paper to your local recycling plant for recycling.
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Tips & Warnings
Even if you take the steps above, you may still have some carbon left in your paper that will prevent you from taking it the recycling process. In general, it's a good idea to avoid using carbon paper and use more green paper products instead.
When handling your wet carbon paper, it will break apart if you move it around too much, and you will not be able to recycle the pieces.
References
Resources
- Photo Credit paper image by max blain from Fotolia.com
