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Paper Recycling
There are many items that are recyclable, with the most common being newspaper, cardboard, glass, tin cans, aluminium, plastic and yes, motor oil. I will be explaining the process of recycling each of the afore-mentioned individually on a weekly basis. Let’s start with what is black and white and read all over…
Newspaper
You, the consumer, begin the process when you set aside your newspaper from the rest of your household rubbish, placing it in a recycle bin or participating in a paper drive for your children’s school. Whatever method you choose, the paper is collected by a recycling agent at some point who then places your paper along with paper from other households and sells it to a paper dealer. Because of the immense volume, this guy usually operates out of a warehouse somewhere. The paper dealer then sells the paper he’s collected to a user, which is where the recycling process - manufacturing a new product from a used one - begins in earnest.
Old newspaper is a very important part of the paper recycling process. Paper mills are very concerned about the cleanliness, type of paper and quantity they purchase so they generally issue purchase contracts to agents as opposed to buying drips and drabs from the public. These contracts could be monthly or ongoing.
Once at the mill, the old ink is separated from the newspaper fibres through a chemical washing process known as de-inking. Screens then remove remaining contaminants like bits of tape or dirt. The pulp that remains is then bleached and mixed with additional pulp from wood chips for strengthening. The resultant watery mixture is then poured onto a wire - a continuously moving belt screen which enables excess moisture to drain through. Once the mixture has reached the end of the wire, it is solid enough to be lifted off and fed through steam-heated rollers, which further dry it and flatten it into a continuous sheet of paper. Close to one kilometre of finished newsprint can be produced by this machine per minute! The newsprint is then trimmed, rolled and sent out to printing plants to be printed with the next day’s news.
Not all old newspaper is recycled back into its original form though. Pulp companies utilize it for other projects too, such as moulding it into flower pots, blown-in cellular insulation and other specialty items. Paper brokers may also sell old newspaper to overseas agents where it often ends up as wrapping paper. In all, newspaper is quite a valuable commodity … just asks the owner of the fish ‘n’ chip shop on the corner!
Pop back next week where I’ll be describing what happens when you choose to recycle your cereal boxes, shoe boxes and the box that once contained all that crockery you almost forgot you had!
