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- Paper Recycling starts with YOU! Making sure your paper is free from contaminants, such as food waste, plastics, metals and other trash, helps to ensure your recycling is a success.
- Your collected paper is taken to a local recycling center and sorted into different grades of paper, where it is then bundled and sent to various paper mills. These paper bundles are stored until each mill is ready to use it in the production of new paper and new paper products.
- Once the paper mill is ready to use the stored paper, the bundles are taken from the warehouse to large conveyors, which transport the paper into a large vat called a pulper. A pulper contains water and chemicals that break the collected paper into small pieces. These pieces are heated, which breaks them down even smaller into little strands called fibers. The paper is broken down until it is pulp. This pulp is sent through screens to remove additional contaminants.
- Next, the pulp is sent through another cleaning process to remove heavier items like staples and paperclips. Once those items are removed, the material goes through the de-inking step to remove printers ink and adhesives. This clean mixture is sent to be refined or made into the ideal texture for papermaking. If the paper was color paper, special bleaching chemicals are added to remove the color.
- The newly refined pulp is now ready to be made into new paper. The paper fibers are sent through a machine that drains the water from the pulp and the fibers bond together to form a sheet. This sheet moves though several press rollers, which squeeze out more water. Then moves through several heated rollers, which dry the paper.
- Finally, when the paper is dry it is wound into a giant roll and removed from the machine. These rolls are then packed and sent out to printers, newspapers, magazines, offices, paper converters, packaging manufacturers and others. The paper roll is then reused in items such as: newspaper, magazines, mail and other paper products.
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