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Basic Information
Why recycle paper? Because paper and paperboard products represent the largest portion of our municipal waste stream (e.g., trash). In 2007, paper and paperboard products accounted for about 83 million tons (or 33 percent) of all materials in the municipal waste stream. In that same year, we recycled more than half (55 percent or 45 million tons) of all the paper that Americans used.
The following links provide basic information about paper recycling, including:
- Benefits of Paper Recycling - The benefits of paper recycling include environmental and economic factors.
- Source Reduction/Lightweighting - A method for reducing the use of paper and paper based products.
- EPA’s Waste Reduction Goals - Goals for reducing the amount of paper waste as stated by EPA.
- Paper Industry's Recovery Goal - A paper industry goal of increasing recovered paper.
- Use of Recovered Paper - Learn about the various ways recovered paper can be used.
- Paper Making and Recycling - Learn about various aspects of the papermaking and recycling process.
- Frequent Questions - Questions and answers with facts and figures about paper recycling, as well as answers to other questions about paper recycling
- Best Practices - Read about best practices for communities, schools, offices, and colleges and universitites. Discover resources for starting paper recycling programs.
Recovered paper, also called “paper stock” in the paper industry, is a raw material for making new paper and paperboard products. The value of recovered paper hinges on several factors, the most important of which are:
- Recovered Paper Quality – Recovered paper must be clean, dry, and free of contaminants (e.g., dirt, glass, plastic, other non-paper materials).
- Paper Grades and Collection – The paper industry categorizes recovered paper into various grades based on a combination of paper fiber type and chemical composition, which determines how the industry will recycle it. Single stream and sorted stream collection is also detailed, as well as information about the availability of recycling programs.
- Markets – Supply and demand for recovered paper influences the economics of paper recycling.
Now that you understand the paper recycling process, learn how to set up a paper recycling program.
