Recycled paper

Lily Yang 402

Recycled paper
Paper can be made from substances containing fiber, such as wood pulp, rice or cotton. Paper recycling is turning waste paper into new paper products, including cardboard, toilet paper, etc.

Why is recycled paper useful?
+ produces less pollution than manufacturing virgin paper from trees, saves water :)
+ sustainable! Protects and conserves an important natural resource: forests. Forests are not only a source of wood, but also massive carbon sinks, playing a key role in recycling carbon in the carbon cycle. Photosynthesis by plants produces oxygen from carbon dioxide, and respiration produced carbon dioxide from oxygen
+ decreases the need for paper disposal. Saves landfill space and petroleum used in incineration plants
+ extends the paper fiber supply
+ paper is easier and requires less energy to recycle than aluminium or glass, because no heating is needed.

Fun fact!
Recycling 1 short ton (0.91 ton) of paper saves 17 mature trees, 7 thousand US gallons (26 m³) of water, 3 cubic yards (2.3 m³) of landfill space, 2 barrels of oil (320L), and 4100 kWh (15 GJ) of electricity – enough energy to power the average American home for six months :o

How to make recycled paper?
1. Blend newspaper with water in a blender
2. Pour the pulp into a tank, half-filled with water
3. Lift a frame into the tank to collect some pulp
4. Leave to dry overnight or use a hairdryer to dry
5. Carefully peel the paper from the frame

Taa Daa!!! Recycled paper is more rough and darker in colour than normal paper. However, it is good to write on :)

Let's look at how recycling paper is done on a large-scale!

Can paper be recycled forever?

When we make recycled paper, the blended pulp consisting of paper fibers and water is collected on the mold. After drying, only the paper fibers remain, forming recycled paper :)

As paper is recycled, fibers in the paper become weaker and shorter than virgin paper (produced from trees). This presents a limitation: paper cannot be recycled forever. Eventually, paper fibers become too weak, unable to stick together and  thus not feasible to recycle. This is why modern "recycled paper" contains a mixture of recycled fibers and virgin fibers, allowing paper to be recycled 5 to 7 times.
Recycled paper is also be less desirable for some purposes, such as photo-copying and printing paper.
Recycling paper is downstream cycling, or downcycling, in which the recycled product is cheaper and of lower quality than the original.





Fibers in wood pulp give paper its strength and structure
The individual fibers in this micrograph under UV light are around 10µm in diameter 

References
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paper_recycling
http://www.loveinfographics.com/categories/science-and-technology-infographics/how-paper-recycling-works-infographic-infographic
http://www.resourcetechnology.org/paper/videoFramesLrg/14-fibers-lg.jpg
http://www.handprint.com/HP/WCL/IMG/sheet.jpg
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paper