How
Recycled Paper Is Made...
Waste
paper is collected, sorted, baled and transported to a paper recycling
plant.
You can help by sorting paper and keeping it dry and out of the sun
(water and sunlight make it harder to remove ink).
At the paper factory,
used paper is mixed with water in a huge blender called a "hydrapulper,"
which mixes the paper with water, pulling inks away from the paper
fibers and separating the fibers themselves. De-inking chemicals are
sometimes also added.
The pulp mixture passes
through several different-sized screens, which separate the paper
fibers from paper clips, staples and other contaminants.
In most cases, the
clean pulp is then mixed with some new wood pulp to make the recycled
paper stronger. Recycled paper fibers get shorter the more often they
are recycled. Most fibers can be recycled
The clean pulp is
pressed into sheets, dried, finished and placed onto rolls.
Everything
Old Is New Again
- Old newspapers can
become new newspapers.
- Old corrugated boxes can become new corrugated boxes.
- Old printing and writing
paper can become new printing and writing paper, wrapping paper,
and paper used for magazines, books and brochures.
- Old scrap paper of
all kinds can be used to make new paper towels and tissues, egg
cartons, fruit trays and flower pots.
- Old grocery bags can
become new mail wrappings for magazines and catalogs, new dog
food bags as well as new grocery bags.
- Old toy boxes or shoe
boxes can become new cereal and soap boxes, soft drink cartons
and pizza boxes.
Up to the top ...
Words
and Phrases
- Natural
Resources: These are the things that occur naturally
in our environment. All human-made products are initially made
from natural resources. A resource is a source of supply or support.
- Nonrenewable
Resources: These are the result of natural geological
processes that take millions of years to complete, such as aluminum,
steel, tin, petroleum and fossil fuels. They cannot be renewed.
- Renewable
Resources: These can be renewed or recreated over time,
such as trees that can be replanted. Sometimes, though, renewable
resources are used up faster than they can be renewed. It's especially
important to be resourceful and conserve our resources so this
will not happen!
- Pollutants:
These are harmful substances in our air or water. When certain
items are dumped into landfills or burned in incinerators, they
give off pollutants.
- Landfill:
This is where much of our trash ends up and is buried. Landfills
are often in low-lying areas where refuse is buried between layers
of earth. The low-lying land would then be "filled"
to ground level or above.
- Solid
Waste: This is our garbage. A solid is anything that
has a definite firm shape and volume. Waste is anything thrown
away, especially if it has not been used completely.
Up to the top ...
Recycling
Around the World
People are making
efforts all over the world to recycle and take better care of our
planet.
|
This recycling bin sits outside a McDonald's at a train
station in Rome, Italy. Visitors are asked to sort paper, waste
and glass or aluminum cans. |
In Bristol, England,
for example, they have a "Waste
Not" Festival,
where you could guess
how many aluminum cans had been crushed into a brick, hear "Cycler
the Robot" sing the Reduce-Reuse-Recycle Rap and create art from items
in a "Scrapstore."
A neighborhood recycling
group there passed out leaflets and stickers with a catchy earth-friendly
slogan: "Before You Bin It, Think What's In It!" Try to come
up with your own catchy phrases to help you remember to recycle.
Another group has
installed picnic tables and seats made from recycled plastics at a
neighborhood park. They are also building a mosaic walkway out of
broken crockery and reclaimed tiles.
If you stop in at
Ben & Jerry's for an ice
cream cone, you'll find a brochure called "Ben & Jerry's
Thoughts On Dioxin." It talks about how the ice cream containers
at Ben & Jerry's are made with unbleached paper. The paper bleaching
process can produce dioxin, a dangerous toxic chemical. Ben &
Jerry's has developed its new carton from unbleached brown (kraft)
paperboard, which can be made from recycled paper fibers.
Battery-maker Duracell
built its new international headquarters using materials from its
own waste. More than half of the building materials contained waste
material from the company's own manufacturing process. This included
flooring made from crushed glass and broken light bulbs, ceiling tiles
made from recycled newspapers and roofing from recycled aluminum.
Look on the bottom
of your cereal box to see if it's made from recycled paper. Kellogg's
Froot Loops, for instance, come in a box made from 100 percent
recycled paperboard. You can also get cereal, often for less money,
in bags that have no box. Quaker
Oats, for example, sells its bagged
cereals for 35-40 percent below the price of boxed cereals.
And
at Disney's Animal
Kingdom in Orlando, Florida, there are brightly colored recycling
bins throughout the park (photo at right). Imagine what a difference
that is making among the waste typically generated by their millions
of guests.
Asked about recycling
efforts at the Disney parks, Joan Manangu, Executive Offices at Walt
Disney World Resort, writes:
"Regrettably,
we are unable to provide you with a date as to when our Recycling
Program began. However, our Company created a department called
Environmental Initiatives. This department was created in 1994 to
identify environmental initiatives around the Walt Disney World
Resort.
"The first
recyclable bins were placed in the Magic Kingdom Park in 1996. The
approximate figures for the monthly total of items recycled in the
month of March 1999 at Disney's Animal Kingdom Park are listed below.
- 28.9% of Class
Waste (trash, paper, & food waste) was recycled.
- 42.8% of Class
III (manure, yard waste, & construction waste) was recycled."
If you pay attention,
you'll begin to notice recycling efforts all around you!
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