Recycle Paper Products

About Paper Recycling

Paper makes up approximately one-third of landfill waste, yet many different types of paper can be easily and successfully recycled. When paper is recycled, it is broken down into its component fibers, cleaned, and then formed into new paper products. Some virgin wood pulp may be added to recycled paper pulp since most fibers cannot be recycled more than five or six times before breaking down entirely, but reusing wood pulp by recycling paper has been a profitable and productive way to conserve resources for decades.

Benefits

There are many benefits of recycling paper, including:

• Smaller Landfills: Recycling paper helps landfills because smaller facilities are needed to house trash and existing landfills will last longer.
• Forest Preservation: Recycling paper goods means that fewer trees are needed to create new virgin paper products.
• Less Pollution: Making paper creates both air and water pollution, but recycling techniques have been refined and mills can recycle paper with less pollution than when making new paper.
• Energy Conservation: It takes up to 40 percent less energy to recycle paper than it does to create new paper, which can result in even less pollution and more resource conservation.
• Reduced Greenhouse Gas: Paper in landfills eventually breaks down, and while degrading it creates methane – a powerful greenhouse gas. By keeping paper out of landfills through recycling, less methane is produced from rotting trash.
• Saving Money: Consumers who reduce and reuse their paper products save money because they do not need to continually purchase more paper goods. Consumers can also purchase paper products made from recycled materials, often at cheaper prices than virgin wood pulp products.

For more information, visit Facts About Recycling Paper.

How to Recycle Paper Products

There are three basic ways to help recycle different types of paper: reducing consumption, reusing items, and direct recycling.

Reduce

The easiest way to minimize the use of paper products is to reduce the amount used each day. Consumers can reduce their use of paper in many ways, such as:

• Opt for cloth napkins and plastic plates and cups instead of disposable paper tableware.
• Use canvas bags for groceries and lunches instead of paper bags.
• Print on both sides of a sheet of paper or use the plain side for scrap paper.
• Use junk mail envelopes, the backs of receipts, and other small scraps of paper for jotting notes and memos.
• When possible, email messages and memos instead of printing them.
• Opt for online banking, automatic billing, and other paper-free services.
• Read newspapers and magazines at a local library instead of buying a subscription.
• Contact customer service departments of different companies to opt out of their mailing lists for advertisements, brochures, and other junk mail.
• When printing, use a smaller font size and tighter spacing to reduce the amount of paper needed.

These are just a few ways consumers can reduce their need for paper; they can also choose to reuse much of their paper for more creative purposes instead of adding to landfills.

Reuse

Many types of paper can easily be reused, whether as scratch paper or for more unique purposes. To reuse paper effectively, you can:

• Use shredded paper for litter box filling or rodent pet cages.
• Unwrap gifts carefully so the paper can be reused for the next holiday.
• Save cardboard boxes for craft projects, storage, or shipping containers.
• Use crumpled paper as padding for shipping or storing fragile items.
• Repurpose greeting cards and recycle Christmas cards as unique gift tags by cutting out shapes or pictures.
• Use calendar photos as artwork or creative and peek-proof gift wrap.

These are just a few tips for reusing different paper products, but when paper cannot be reused, direct recycling is the best option.

Recycle

Recycling saves more than trees.

Most types of paper can be recycled, and recycling technology has been refined in recent years so that mixed paper and staples do not present as much of a challenge. Some types of papers cannot be effectively recycled, however. Products with food or oil stains, waxy coatings, stickers, foil accents, or lamination are generally unable to be recycled. Every recycling facility has different guidelines for how to recycle paper products, and consumers should investigate how paper must be prepared, sorted, and turned in to be sure they can contribute to the recycling effort effectively.

Cities that do not offer curbside pickup of recyclables often have several paper recycling facilities, such as:

• Specialized drop off points, often near schools, parks, malls or other easy to reach locations
• Grocery stores
• Office buildings
• City collection facilities

Before dropping off paper to be recycled, it should be free from contamination, properly sorted, and dry, and it should meet any other established recycling guidelines for each specific facility or collection point.

Buying Recycled Products

Another way consumers can support recycling programs is to purchase post-consumer recycled paper products. These products have been made from paper that has already been returned for recycling at least once, and with modern refinements in recycling technology, these products are generally the same quality as virgin paper products. Any number of paper products can be made from recycled materials, including tissues, printer or copy paper, greeting cards, checks, envelopes, invitations, bathroom tissue, and more.

Retailers offering a variety of paper products made from recycled materials include:

• The Green Office
• TreeCycle
• The Check Gallery
• GreenLine Paper Company
• Peaceful Valley Greetings
• New Leaf Paper
• Marcal Paper
• World Centric
• Twisted Limb Paperworks
• Kim’s Specialty Paper

When we recycle paper products we can help the environment, our budgets, and our conscience all at once. Recycling paper is fast and easy, and it makes a tremendous difference for both today and tomorrow.