Recycled paper- uses
Friday, January 15th, 2010Recycled paper- uses – 15th January 2010
Printers have seen an increase in the frequency with which clients specify recycled paper all kinds of work from brochures to newsletters and government publications. Without going too deeply into the pros and cons of the environmental debate, there are sound reasons for using a greater proportion of recycled fibre and reducing the pressures on forestry and disposals. It has been suggested that the growth in the demand for paper has led to logging of old temperature forests and the disappearance of traditional wilderness areas under conifer plantations, resulting in the loss of wildlife habitat and a reduction in the diversity of land uses available to local people.
According to the Pulp and Paper Information Centre, the UK uses around 10 million tonnes of paper every year. Most of this paper is disposed of after use (with the exception of relatively small quantities that are archived or kept in the form of books), and ultimately end up being incinerated, recycled or used as landfill is becoming economically unattractive owing to the scarcity of suitable sites, and incineration leads to the release of greenhouse gases into atmosphere.
Environmental arguments over the pulp and paper industries have not gone entirely unchallenged. Nevertheless the re-use of primary fibre through recycling is along-established feature of the industry which all forecasters agree will account for an increasing proportion of paper use in the developed countries, as a result of a combination of economic pressures, consumer demand and government legislation.
Paper is an ideal material for recycling. A sheet of paper is basically a mat of cellulose fibres, and these fibres can easily be separated in a hyrapulper ready for re-entry into the paper-making cycle. The two main challenges for the recycler are the removal of contaminants such as ink from printed waste, and the restoration of the cellulose fibres to a state nearer to that in which they entered the paper-making process as virgin fibre.
Waste paper is cleaned after pulping in series of stages, each involving specialised equipment. Larger contaminants are removed by forcing the pulp through screens, and smaller particles are separated by centrifuging. Removal of inks is carried out by either de-inking (chemical removal of ink in flotation tanks, in which the waste ink rises to the surface for removal) or by dispersal (physical separation of ink from pulp).
Fibre restoration is necessary for premium recycled grades since the initial paper-making process causes a hardening (or homifcation) of the outer layer of the cellulose fibre. When homified fibres are made into paper again, they bond together differently, producing a sheet with greater porosity and lower surface energy.
On the whole, it is more efficient to ‘down cycle’ paper – i.e. to recycle it into a lower grade of paper – than to restore it fully and so the most suitable uses for recycled fibre are the packaging boards and newsprint grades that account for a high proportion of paper and board consumption. Higher grade recycled papers inevitably carry a price premium as the cost of the plant needed for cleaning and restoring the pulp has to be recovered, and the higher energy costs begin to make the environmental benefits more questionable.
Once a printed product has been distributed to the consumer, the printer has no control over any contaminants that may be introduced. However, some of the printing processes can also affect subsequent recyclability. Lamination and UV curing both create a plastic film, rather than particles like conventional inks, and these make repulping and cleaning more difficult. Water-based inks used in flexo printing, while having clear environmental benefits over solvent-based inks, cannot be removed from paper fibres. Carbonless copy papers and some adhesives are also unsuitable for recycling.
Peter Harrison is Joint Managing Director of The Printing House Ltd,
and Print Buying Direct of Crewe, Cheshire, UK.
Print Buying Direct are UK market Leaders in Leaflet Printing | Brochure Printing.
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For more information on printing and graphic design please see some of our recent blog articles;
- Paper Recycling legislation as it concerns the print industry
- Printing and Recycling- definitions and legislation
- Print and paper industry – Other emissions to water
- Print and Paper Industry Environmental Facts
- Paper for Printing – Other areas of environmental impact
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