Paper and cardboard recycling

Every year, millions of newspapers and magazines are collected in Nottinghamshire for recycling, through a network of banks and kerbside recycling schemes.

Did you know?

• Waste paper can be recycled to recover its fibre content.
• To keep up with UK paper consumption, a forest the size of Wales is required every year.
• 'Post-consumer waste' is the term used to describe paper recycled from the household waste stream such as newspapers, magazines.
• 'Pre-consumer waste' is the term used to describe paper recycled from industrial waste eg printer off-cuts.

Why recycle paper?

• It reduces waste - 20% of household waste is paper and cardboard and 2.5 million tonnes of paper ends up in landfill sites every year
• For every tonne of paper used for recycling equals at least 3000 litres of water. 3000 - 4000 KWh electricity (enough for an average 3 bedroom house for one year), 95% of air pollution.

So what happens?

Paper from the household waste recycling centres is transported to local paper companies, where it's sorted into the different paper grades prior to reprocessing at a paper mill.

At the mill, the paper goes through a massive pulping machine that removes things that can't be recycled, such as staples and bindings. The pulp is then de-inked, whereby the ink is floated off the paper. Once all the glues and varnishes have been removed, the pulp is ready to be made into "new" newspaper or cardboard.

More water is added to the cleaned pulp, which is then fed into the paper making machine. This consists of a series of large rollers to press the pulp. Then it's heat dried to remove the remaining water.  The dried paper is wound onto large rolls and is ready for printing again.