Paper and card
Paper mills make a variety of papers from different recycled materials including; newspapers, cardboard boxes, writing paper, toilet rolls and tissue paper. In only seven days your newspaper could be recycled and made into next week’s newspaper.
How is paper and card recycled?
After being collected from your recycling bin, your paper and card is transported to a sorting facility, where it is separated from other recyclable materials like tins, cans, plastic and glass.
Your paper and card is then taken to a paper mill where it is turned into pulp with water and chemicals, to separate the fibres. Only clean paper and card can be recycled as grease from food, such as pizza boxes, makes it difficult to separate the fibres when they are pulped. Each time paper fibres are recycled they get shorter making lower quality paper, which is why tissues and paper towels, which have short fibres, can’t be recycled again.
The pulp is sprayed onto a fast moving mesh to form sheets. The sheets are flattened and passed through heated rollers to make them the right thickness. The paper is then wound onto large rolls.