paper recycling

Waste paper collected for recycling in Italy Bin to collect paper for recycling in a German train station Paper recycling is the process by which waste paper is turned into new paper products. After repeated processing the fibres become too short for the production of new paper, which is why virgin fibre (from sustainably farmed trees) is frequently added to the pulp recipe.

Waste paper recycling most often involves mixing used/old paper with water and chemicals to break it down. Three categories of paper can be used as feedstocks for making recycled paper: mill broke, pre-consumer waste, and post-consumer waste. The industrial process of removing printing ink from paper fibres of recycled paper to make deinked pulp is called deinking, an invention of the German jurist Justus Claproth.