Have you ever heard about three Rs: Reduce, Reuse and Recycle? Well, these are important Rs to protect the environment and reduce pollution.
Papers and cardboards are recyclable items. You can sell them to recyclers or simply them in recycle bins.
Recycle
Recycle is a process of changing an old item into a new one to use again. This process saves waste production, space and protects the environment from land pollution.
Three R’s for Environment
There are three R’s to protect the environment, i.e., Reuse, Recycle and Reduce.
– Reduce
– Reuse
– Recycle
Impacts of Paper and Cardboard on Environment
Save Trees
Many trees are saved from cutting when a paper is recycled. $0% of paper pulp is made out of wood to create paper. The trees to produce papers are grown specifically for it. In addition, trees of old wood forests are used. Moreover, paper mills practice reforestation to ensure a continuous supply.
There are many regulatory bodies that regulated these paper mills to ensure harvesting is practiced according to the Forest rules.
Here is a table showing how many trees are saved when paper is recycled.
| Type of Paper produced (1 ton) | Woods used(in tons) |
| Newspaper | 1 ton |
| Printing or Copier paper | 2 tons |
Energy
Energy is saved when paper is recycled. According to Energy Information Administration, 40% of energy is saved when paper is recycled. On the other hand, the Bureau of International Recycling claims it to be 64%.
Landfills
Papers contribute 40% to landfills. When papers are recycled it these land are saved from excess fills. Moreover, papers decomposition produces methane, which is highly combustible.
Other Benefits
Recycling papers reduces water pollution by 35% and air pollution by 74%. Moreover, reducing paper reduces CO2 emission by 70%.
There is many paper and cardboard recycling service that will recycle them ecologically.
Paper
Paper can easily be recycled in a paper mill. Recycling paper saves several yards of land from getting filled and hence saves space.
By recycling every ton of paper 17 trees, 7000 gallons of water, and 463 gallons of oil are saved. Though this may sound like a complex procedure it’s super easy.
Types of Papers
Papers are categorized according to its fiber length that is stripped every time it is recycled. A paper can be recycled 5-7 times only after this the fibers get too short to produce another paper. New fibers are attached to it to produce paper again.
Newspaper: Newspapers are the lowest grade of paper. It is made from pulp that is several times recycled to produce more tissues, newspaper, etc.
Mixed Paper: This category includes mails, magazines, catalogs, etc.
High-grade Paper: This is high-quality paper like envelopes, copy paper, letterhead, printing paper, etc.
Cardboard
Cardboard is made from paper. It is a recyclable material use to store and transport goods.
Types of Cardboard
There are two types of cardboard:
Corrugated cardboard: It is made of long fibers and layered cardboard. It is strong and durable and thus used to transport heavy goods.
Paperboard: This is made of recycled corrugated cardboard. This grey cardboard is used to make cereal or shoe boxes.
The Process to Recycle Paper & Cardboard
Step 1. Collection
The first step includes a collection of papers and cardboard from houses, offices, and factories. The recyclers collect papers and cardboard from small sources and then put them in a large recycle bin.
Then the factory workers sort and separate them according to different categories. Recyclable items are sent to the factory and others are disposed of.
Then they are again sorted according to fiber length and materials. Thin papers like newspapers are store in a different machine and thick ones are stored separately.
Cardboard boxes are broken down and all kinds of tapes and labels are removed.
Step 2: Shredding and Pulping
Next, the factory breaks paper into smaller pieces and mixed it with water and chemicals to break it down. The paper material turns into a slurry substance known as pulping.
Then this substance is heated and this changes it into small fibers.
Step 3: Screening
This substance passes through a screen to remove any kind of contamination. If the fibers are weaker to produce new, the new pulp is added.
Step 5: Deinking
This matter is rotated in a cone-shaped machine to remove any ink, glue, or adhesives.
Then this pulp passes through a machine, it sprays it into a conveyor belt. This process is important to remove water.
This material is further moved to heated rollers to dry and roll to make new products.
Step 6: Bleaching
To produce white paper hydrogen peroxide/oxygen/chlorine dioxide is added to add brightness and whiteness.
While making cardboard, there is no need to add anything.
Tips
1. You cannot recycle wet or contaminated cardboard such as milk cartons, juice box or pizza boxes.
2. Before recycling cardboard removes plastics, tap, or polystyrene.
3. Similar to cardboard, contaminated paper cannot be recycled.
4. You can also recycle catalogs and pamphlets.
5. You can the so recycle phone books.
6. To recycle milk, juice, or any wet cardboard, dry it out first then recycle.
7. To recycle the pizza box, remove the contaminated or stained part.
8. You can open the cardboard and fold them before recycling.
Recycle Products
Office papers are recycled to produce tissues, paperboards, stationeries, and magazines.
Colored papers or other low rade papers are used to produce cardboard, tissues, newspapers, etc.
Corrugated Cardboard is recycled to produce lower-quality paperboards.
Recycled Magazines are used to produce newspapers, tissues, and paperboards.
Newspapers can be reproduced as cereal boxes, egg cartons, tissue papers, and various products.
Phone books are used to make new phone books.
Conclusion
Recycling paper and cardboard not only reduces pollutions and landfills but also raw materials used to produce new ones.
You can save the environment as well as money. How? You can earn money by recycling paper and cardboard too.
I’m a 20-something stay-at-home mother and wife. I have an amazing husband, a beautiful daughter, two loving dogs, and a lazy cat. I wouldn’t change my life for anything! I love to read, listen to music, cook and blog!
Speak Your Mind