Recycling of Paper: Definition, Steps & Advantages

Paper plays an extremely important role in our everyday lives; from newspapers to personal journals, we use them so much and often dispose them of after use. But, with the increasing popularity of Recycling of Paper nowadays, we don’t have to anymore. Through the process of recycling, waste paper is turned into new paper products. Recycling of Paper has a plethora of benefits: it saves space in our homes needed to store old paper products, prevents paper from producing methane when it decomposes breaks down, and locks up the carbon (originally absorbed by the tree from which the paper was produced) for longer and out of the atmosphere. Moreover, recycling paper uses less energy in than producing new papers and causes (35) per cent less water pollution and (74) per cent less air pollution than. Read on to learn more interesting and useful facts about recycling of paper and why you should do it.

Recycling of Paper

Paper recycling consists of the processes of transforming waste paper into other forms for reuse. These waste papers are obtained from paper scraps, discarded paper materials, and waste paper material discarded after consumer use including old newspapers and magazines. Moreover, corrugated, wrapping, and packaging papers among other types of paper have to be usually checked whether they are suitable for recycling before processing. There are a number of stages to paper recycling such as collecting , sorting, pulping bleaching etc. Before going into the complete details of recycling of paper, let us first start by discussing what recycling generally means.

What is Recycling?

To recycle something means “to use it again.” Usually, recycling refers to old or used products that are turned into new products instead of being thrown away. The most recycled materials include paper, plastic, glass, and aluminium, although lots of other things can be recycled too, including items like old electronics and plastic bags.

Fig: Recycling of Waste

What is Recycling of Paper?

Recycling paper simply defined as the process of reutilising waste paper for reuse, is called recycling paper. Paper is considered a major element in solid waste. \(50\%\) of landfills are occupied by paper as waste. We use newspapers and magazines in our daily lives that are dumped as waste after usage. Therefore we can collect all these newspapers and magazines that are discarded as scrap or waste to recycle the paper again.

Fig: Steps Involved in Recycling of Paper

Steps Involved in Recycling of Paper: We should know a few steps on how piled-up paper can be recycled in industries. Below are the following steps that are involved in recycling paper.

1. Collection and Transportation: The first step in recycling paper is to collect the paper dumped in schools, offices, homes, bins, etc., by recyclers or paper merchants. After the collection of paper from various sources, the paper waste gets transported to a recycling plant, where the waste paper is sorted and separated into types and grades.
2. Sorting: The wastepaper needs to be sorted such as by newsprint, computer paper, magazine paper etc., as different types of paper are treated differently during the paper recycling process to make different types of recycled paper products.
3. Pulping: Pulp was made by adding wastepaper with water. After using various waste paper and water ratios, the best pulp was found at a ratio of \(100\)-gram paper and \(4\) litres of water. Pulp was made with the help of a hand-operated pulp machine.
4. Screening: The screening process helps in separating the contaminants based on their size and shape. As a result, the pulp slurry is poured on the screener to settle down slowly.
5. De-Inking: This stage does not always happen. It always relies upon the paper and occurs where the paper has some ink or colour on it. This step is done to ensure that to get rid of all the printing ink, viscous, and glue or gum within the paper.
6. Bleaching: This stage is relevant if the slurry is destined to become a white paper stock, then it will need to undergo the process of bleaching. Hydrogen peroxide is used to enhance brightness, purity, and whiteness. Alternatively, oxygen or chlorine dioxide can be used.
7. Rolling: After screening the pulp, the rollers are used to compress the sheet, squeezing out moisture and consolidating fibres.
8. Drying and Paper Making: After rolling, the paper is exposed to heat for the drying and compressing process until the sheet has become a roll of paper and flattened fresh paper layers to smooth out the paper from any wrinkles. Finally, the paper is being rolled onto massive metal rollers, where the material is then getting rated by quality controllers that check the strength and the grade of the paper which can now be sold and shipped to other manufactures.

What can you Recycle Paper Into?

1. Scribbling paper pads
2. Drawing paper
3. Tissues and toilet towels
4. Napkins and paper towels
5. Greeting cards
6. Newspapers and magazines
7. Carbon sheets
8. Office paper
9. Charts made for kids

What are Benefits of Recycling of Paper?

Recycling is extremely important because it is good for the environment in so many ways. Different communities each have their own separate ways of collecting recyclable goods. Making things out of recycled materials almost always uses less energy than making the same item again from new materials. For example, if you drink from a disposable water bottle every day and throw it away when you are done, imagine how many bottles would pile up over a week, a month, and a year. By carrying a reusable bottle instead, we should avoid the creation of excess waste. Let us discuss some of the chief benefits of recycling of paper.

1. Saves Space in Landfills: Recycling paper and cardboard saves space in landfills as less waste is sent to landfills or for incineration
2. Reduces Greenhouse Gases: Recycling paper reduces methane as when paper decomposes anaerobically in landfills, it produces this toxic gas. Trees absorb carbon dioxide, and when they are cut down to make paper products, more carbon dioxide is released than absorbed, causing an increase in the level of carbon dioxide gas in the atmosphere. The collection of papers for recycling from different sites instead of burning reduces greenhouse gases that can contribute to climate change.
3. Preserving resources: Recycling paper prevents cutting down trees since wood and leaves are the raw materials of paper.
4. Energy-saving: It takes \(70\%\) less energy and water to recycle paper than to create new paper from trees. Recycling one ton of paper saves \(380\) gallons of oil, \(3.3\) cubic yards of landfill space, \(7,000\) gallons of water and \(4,000\) kilowatts of energy equivalent to the energy needed to power the average U.S. home for six months. Recycling paper into new paper products saves energy and water because the number of energy-intensive steps and processes that use water are reduced.
5. Economic Benefits: Recycling conserves natural resources, strengthens our economy and creates job opportunities.

Summary

Paper recycling plays a major role in cleaning the environment. Obtaining raw materials like wood, bamboo leaves, oil, etc., leads to deforestation. Hence, adopting the various steps to recycle the paper that is collected by the recyclers from various landfills decreases environmental pollution. Converting the scratch materials instead of making new products saves energy, and the process of converting the waste items consumes less amount of time.

Collection and transportation, sorting, pulping, screening, bleaching, rolling, drying, etc., are the various steps involved in the recycling of paper. Following the \({\rm{5’R}}\) (Refuse, Reduce, Reuse, Repurpose, Recycle) principle keeps the environment clean and disease-free.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) on Recycling of Paper

The most frequently asked questions on Recycling of Paper are answered here:

We hope this detailed article on Recycling of Paper helps you in your preparation. If you get stuck do let us know in the comments section below and we will get back to you at the earliest.