Fun facts: 10 easy steps to recycled paper
1. Pulping: Adding water and applying mechanical action separates fibers from each other.
2. Screening: Using slotted screens, contaminants that are larger than pulp fibers are removed.
3. Centrifugal cleaning: Materials that are more dense than pulp fibers move outward and are
rejected by spinning the “pulp slurry”.
4. Flotation: Air bubbles are passed through the pulp slurry causing ink particles to collect with the foam on the surface. By removing contaminated foam, the pulp becomes brighter.
5. Kneading or dispersion: Mechanical action is used to fragment contaminant matter.
6. Washing: Small particles are removed by passing water through the pulp.
7. Bleaching: Peroxides are added to remove color from the pulp to create white paper.
8. Papermaking: The clean (and/or bleached) fiber is made into a “new” paper product in the same way that virgin paper is made.
9. Dissolved air flotation: Process water is cleaned for reuse.
10. Waste disposal: The unusable material left over, mainly ink, plastics, filler and short fibers, is called sludge. The sludge can be buried in a landfill, burned to create energy at the paper mill or used as a fertilizer by local farmers.
After finishing these steps recycled paper is produced without chopping down a single tree!