Waste Paper
Industrialized paper making has an effect on the environment both upstream (where raw materials are acquired and processed) and downstream (waste-disposal impacts). Today, 40% of paper pulp is created from wood (in most modern mills only 9-16% of pulp is made from pulp logs; the rest comes from waste wood that was traditionally burnt).
Paper production accounts for about 35% of felled trees, and represents 1.2% of the world’s total economic output. Recycling one ton of newsprint saves about 1 ton of wood while recycling 1 ton of printing or copier paper saves slightly more than 2 tons of wood. This is because Kraft pulping requires twice as much wood since it removes lignin to produce higher quality fibres than mechanical pulping processes. Relating tons of paper recycled to the number of trees not cut is meaningless, since tree size varies tremendously and is the major factor in how much paper can be made from how many trees. Trees raised specifically for pulp production account for 16% of world pulp production, old growth forests 9% and second- and third- and more generation forests account for the balance. Most pulp mill operators practice reforestation to ensure a continuing supply of trees.
Types of Waste Paper
| Different Types of Waste Paper | Product Description |
|---|---|
| Mixed Paper Materials Grade 1 | Mixed paper materials for recycling are comprised of different paper types and quality including varying fibers. |
| Soft Mixed Paper Grade 2 | Soft mixed papers for recycling are made up of sorted and clean paper types of various quality including type of fiber. |
| Hard Mixed Paper: Grade 3 | Hard mixed papers for recycling include clean and sorted papers of differing qualities that have less than 10% ground wood. |
| Boxboard Cuttings Grade 4 | Boxboard cuttings for paper recycling are made of new cuttings of paperboard used in manufacturing folding cartons and other boxboard-type products. |
| Mill Wrappers Grade 5 | Mill wrappers for recycling consist of paper used as an outside wrapping for bundles, rolls and skids of finished paper. |
| News Grade 6 | Newspapers for recycling. |
| News, De-Ink Grade 7 (ONP) | De-ink quality news materials for paper recycling are made up of fresh and sorted newspapers that aren’t damaged by the sun and don’t contain more than the normal percentage of colored sections and rotogravure. |
| Special News, De-Ink Grade 8 (#8 ONP) | De-ink quality special news for paper recycling consists of fresh sorted newspapers that are free from sun damage. This grade shouldn’t include anything other than news such as magazines, and is tare-free. It also shouldn’t contain more than the normal percentage of colored sections and rotogravure. |
| Over-Issue News Grade 9 (OI or OIN) | Over-issue news for paper recycling is comprised of unused, overrun newspaper that’s bundled and doesn’t contain more than the normal percentage of colored sections and rotogravure. |
| Corrugated Containers Grade 11 (OCC) | Corrugated containers for paper recycling have jute, kraft or test liners. |
| Double Sorted Corrugated Grade 12 (DS OCC) | Double sorted corrugated containers for paper recycling have jute, kraft or test liners. These materials often come from supermarkets and commercial/industrial locations. This paper grade is specially sorted to be free of boxboard, offshore corrugated material, wax and plastic. |
| Hard White Shavings (HWS) Grade 30 | Hard white shavings for recycling are shavings or sheets of unprinted, untreated white paper that doesn’t contain groundwood. |
| Hard White Envelope Cuttings (HWEC) Grade 31 | Hard white envelope cuttings for recycling are shavings or sheets of uncoated, untreated and unprinted white envelope paper that’s free from groundwood. |
| New Colored Envelope Cuttings Grade 33 | New colored envelope cuttings for recycling are cuttings, shavings or sheets of uncoated, untreated and groundwood-free bleachable colored envelope paper. |