Are there limits to the recycling of paper?
Posted on
27th April 2017
In
A fibre can be recycled several times, yet not indefinitely, depending on the paper grade. Therefore, there is a continuous need to feed the inflow of recovered fibre with paper products made of virgin pulp. Paper recycling needs to continuously incorporate a certain amount of fresh fibres for three main reasons:
- Strength:
- Cellulose fibre deteriorates each time it is recycled.
- Depending upon the type of paper being made, it can be reused several times.
- Quality:
- While most, if not all, paper and board types could be made of 100% paper for recycling, some products need top quality paper for recycling, (like cuttings and shavings from printers), which is not widely available.
- Some paper and board type production makes little or no use of paper for recycling. This can be partly due to the quality requirements of the end-product, such as high-grade artwork, or the technical characteristics needed for many special purpose types, such as security paper, which prevents fraudulent use of documents.
- Availability:
- Around 19% of the paper we use is not possible to collect or recycle.
- Some paper products are not sent for recycling – for example, books, documents and photographs kept at home or in archives and libraries.
- In other cases, paper products deteriorated or are destroyed when used – such as sanitary paper or cigarette paper.