Why the Idea to Recycle Paper is a Necessity for the Forest Preservation

Paper production is far from representing an easy process as for one tone of paper, ninety-eight tons of wood and other materials are needed. We can’t recycle the same paper indefinitely, theoretically we can reuse paper for about six times at the maximum, but within every new paper manufactured lot, there are fresh fibers added too; so, practically we recycle newer and older fiber at the same time.

Federal laws say that paper can contain between 10% and 100% recycled material. However, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) suggests that 50% should be fresh and 50% recycled; and it is according to the percentage of the recycled paper used, that many governments offer financial support as a reward for the ecological effort pro-recycle paper companies make.

The idea to recycle paper appeared like a necessity for the forest preservation. Statistics show that about 90% of paper is made out of wood and that almost half of the global harvested wood goes to the paper industry. Reforesting is another method used by most wood harvesting companies as an effort to preserve the forest. Estimations indicate that recycling only half of the world’s paper would save 80,000 km² (20 million acres) of forest.

To recycle paper means to save about 50% of the energy cost a company would pay to produce it from fresh wood. This is enough energy to heat up a home for an entire year. More that 35% of the solid waste in a city is paper, recycling it would mean saving lots of trees and energy. Nevertheless, the problem that remains is that the collecting system isn’t working perfectly, and it is not used at its real capacity.

When speaking about air and water pollution as influenced by the effort to recycle paper, statistics are very encouraging; EPA claims that recycle paper industries reduce water pollution with 35% and air pollution with 74%. This encouraging levels of successful reprocessing justify the large sums of money governments pay companies that get involved in recycling.

How did it all start? By the beginning of the 19th century the paper industry couldn’t keep the pace with the demand for books and writing materials. Therefore recycling paper appeared as a necessity, and old books or books held as invaluable were simply recycled to allow the printing of new ones. In the United States the first paper mill appeared in 1690 while in the 19th century the recycling businesses were turning into a real industry.

How is Paper Recycled?

Have you ever looked at a package of recycled office paper and wondered how it can look so clean and crisp? Most people think recycled office paper has to be tan or gray; but fortunately great strides in the recycling industry have made remarkable advances in producing high quality, recycled content paper products.

To begin recycling paper, the wastepaper must be free of contaminants such as food, plastic and metal. Once this clean paper is separated at a recycling center, it is tightly bundled in a bailer and taken to a paper mill to be made into new products. Different grades of recovered paper are used to make various types of recycled paper products like tissue & towel products, corrugated paper, and printing and writing papers. Recovered papers move through a range of steps. First, it is mixed in the Pulper with water and chemicals. The paper is chopped and heated and broken down into fibers. The result is a mixture of mushy pulp. Next the pulp moves onto the screening phase.

During this procedure pulp is pushed through screens to eliminate bits of plastic and glue. The pulp is further cleaned through another step called the spinning process which separates out the remaining contaminants such as staples. Once the paper is cleaned, it goes through a de-inking process to eliminate any ink or sticky glues from the pulp. Color stripping removes dye from colored paper and bleaching is what makes recycled office paper so white. Most recycled papers, unlike their virgin paper counterparts, are whitened with Hydrogen Peroxide or an Oxygenation process—not chlorine. After all of this, the pulp is ready for the paper machine. It can either be used alone to create recycled content paper or blended with alternative fibers such as hemp, kenaf, cotton or other fibers to create tree-free papers. It may also be blended with virgin paper fibers to create a partial recycled content paper. After being blended with water, the pulp is sprayed onto screens and runs through a series of press rollers, followed by heated rollers to dry the paper. The finished paper is wound onto giant rolls, then cut down to smaller rolls or sheets. It is finally shipped to converting plants to be made into different paper products, including bright white recycled office paper

Because paper fibers can be recycled six to twelve times, it is advantageous for it to be collected and re-made into paper again! Approximately 80% of paper mills in the United States use some recovered fiber even in their production of new paper and paper products. So next time you have a choice of which paper to purchase reach for the recycled office paper, in particular the 100% post-consumer paper; and do your part to save the environment.

Paper Products and Green Living

Some of the environmental issues that arise from paper production and disposal include the pollution of air and water, high energy use, large landfill requirements and deforestation. To keep the impact on the environment to a minimum we need to change the ways in which we view paper products and begin to reuse and recycle these produces more in an environmentally safe manner. Some of these ways include the use of reusable grocery bags, buying products made from recycled paper, and using cloth towels and napkins instead of paper versions.

In order to have a smaller environmental impact with paper products, we need to begin by reducing our use of them (obviously!) and reusing products whenever possible. Instead of reaching for the roll of paper towels to clean up a spill, why not use a dish towel? Or, instead of using a fresh piece of paper to write your grocery list, start using the back of a receipt or the back of and envelope that a piece of mail comes in. These all seem like minor things, but the impact of doing them all, or the impact that could be effected if we all did one of them, can be pretty profound.

According to the US Environmental Protection Agency, paper made up the largest share of municipal solid waste in 2006 at 34%. While about half of paper waste is recovered for recycling or compost, the other half ends up in landfills, where it does not readily decompose. Recycling alone is also not a cure-all; the recycling process as well as production from virgin pulp uses water, energy and chemicals. According to the US Energy Information Administration (EIA), paper mills use 40% less energy to produce paper from recycled material than from fresh lumber, but may use more fossil fuels for recycled paper than for that made from virgin fiber. According to the EIA, recycling also uses fewer chemicals than ordinary paper production, and naturally does not pose the same threat to forests. While recycling paper that we can no longer reuse and purchasing recycled paper products can lighten our ecological footprint, reducing and reusing should not be forgotten. Investing in durable reusable bags can help us remember to avoid paper bags when shopping.

Have you thought about the chemicals that are used in paper products that have been bleached and their impact on the environment? Bleached paper items are done with Chlorine, which can cause dioxin, a highly toxic chemical that can cause cancer and birth defects in humans. Paper mills release these chemicals along with other pollutants, such as sulphur oxides and carbon monoxide into our waterways through effluent polluting, contaminating our water and the organisms that live in these waterways, possibly poisoning humans. Paper mills are the largest industrial polluters in North America. By using reusable grocery bags over paper or plastic bags, we will be helping to minimize the impact on the environment that is created through the paper production process.

Finally, we can’t forget about the fact that making fresh paper requires the harvesting of millions of acres of forest (trees) every year. Deforestation causes a number of problems. It destroys animal habitats, putting species at risk for extinction. It reduces the amount of carbon dioxide that can be turned in to oxygen which increases the amount of carbon dioxide in our atmosphere. This in turn can contribute to global warming. Finally, actually cutting down the tress, shipping them to mills, and so on consumes a large amount of fossil fuels and generates an unnecessary amount of pollution. According to the Environmental Defense Fund, over one third of the wood harvested in the United States is solely for the production of paper products. Again, we can lessen these impacts by recycling paper products, using recycled products, and beginning to use less paper products in general.

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Why Buy Recycled Paper and Tree-free Paper

Why Buy Recycled Paper and Tree-free Paper?
You may wonder, “Why buy recycled paper and tree-free paper?” According to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), making paper from recycled materials produces 74 percent less air pollution and 35 percent less water pollution. When you ask yourself, “Why buy recycled paper and tree-free paper?” it’s important to realize that using recycled paper helps save valuable natural resources in our forests  and reduces the paper waste filling up our already over crowed landfills.

Why buy recycled paper and tree-free paper? Because recycled and tree-free paper work just as well as virgin paper. They’re used in many homes and offices for printing, faxing, copying and other administrative duties. In order for paper to be considered recycled, the government currently requires that it contain at least 30 percent recycled material.

The Benefits of Recycled and Tree-free Paper
When consumers use 100 percent recycled paper, they automatically use less chlorine. Chlorine produces Dioxin, a dangerous chemical that studies show can lead to cancer in people and wildlife. Why buy recycled paper and tree-free paper? Because they can lead to a healthier environment for everyone.

Tree-free Paper Alternatives
The production of tree-free paper is another step toward decreasing deforestation. Tree-free paper is not made from tree fiber. Plant fibers derived from hemp, kenaf, cotton, sugarcane, flax and many other easy to grow agricultural plants may be used instead of trees.  Right now tree-free paper is considered the most environmentally friendly paper available.

Reduced Chemicals Mean Reduced Pollutants
Why buy recycled paper and tree-free paper? Since products made from tree-free paper can be made from other plant sources instead of trees, fewer chemical are needed to break down and separate the paper fibers from the plant. They are usually chlorine-free, and some brands are even pesticide-free. Fewer industrial chemicals mean a cleaner environment. Trees can take anywhere from seven to 20 years to grow while it only takes about 10 weeks to grow the plants needed for tree-free paper.

Why Buy Recycled paper and tree-free paper? Environmental Solutions
So when you ask, “Why buy recycled paper and tree-free paper?” One answer to consider is the fact that it significantly cuts down on the depletion of our natural resources and contributing to overfilled landfills, and environmental pollution. Buying recycled and tree-free paper is a big step in the right direction.

Recycled Paper Products ? Facts About Recycling in the US

Millions of Americans recycle paper at home, work and school. This number keeps increasing as people become more aware of the importance of recycling and conservation. Recycling paper products conserves natural resources, reduces the need for land filling or incineration, saves energy and prevents pollution. According to the Paper Industry Association Council, 56% of the paper consumed is recovered for recycling. Included in this number, 48% of office paper is recovered for recycling, and 73% of newspaper is recovered. This translates to almost 360 pounds for every person in the country.
Recycled paper products include paperboard, tissue and paper towels, printing and writing paper, boxes, hydro-mulch, molded packaging, compost, kitty litter, and 1.5 million tons of construction products.

It is not just trees being saved by not using virgin wood pulp for products. The EPA states that recycling 1 ton of paper saves 1,000 gallons of water, 3 cubic yards of landfill space, 2 barrels of oil, and 4,100 kilowatt hours of electricity in addition to 17 mature trees. Recycled paper generates 74% less air pollution and uses 54% less water vs. making new paper. Overall, it uses only 60% of the energy it would take to make paper from virgin wood pulp.

Recycling numbers can increase by encouraging away from home collection. The EPA has set up an initiative called Recycle on the Go as part of its Resource Conservation Challenge. Its goal is to encourage recycling in public places. Their objective is to increase the amount of paper waste collected for recycling, and promote a culture of recycling by making it convenient, available and cost effective.

You should choose a company which is socially responsible company dedicated to a greener future. In addition to an extensive list of environmentally sound office products, the company should be dedicated to selling only recycled and tree-free papers. To further conserve, they reuse shipping cartons and pad them with recyclable paper, never polystyrene foam.

Office Paper to Toilet Paper – White Goat Paper Recycler : DigInfo

DigInfo – www.diginfo.tv Oriental White Goat Paper Related Links – orikankyou.com – orikankyou.com – eco-pro.com (Eco-Products 2009)

Reuse Paper. Reduce Plastic (how to make recycle bag from newspaper)

A simple steps to convert newspaper waste into recycled bag, reducing the amount of plastic bag waste that contaminates the environment.

Is it OK to recycle white paper in the newspaper recycling bin?

If not, where should I recycle it?. I do not have access to an office recycling program any longer. I just do not want to throw it away.

Why Recycle Paper?

Best paper recycling paper ever! Yes, it is kind of boring, but just watch it.

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