Gerecycled paper

On average, each person uses around 80 kilos of paper per year. This includes books, magazines, printing paper, colouring pages and even toilet paper.

If we can make this usage more sustainable by reusing paper, the environmental benefits are significant. Fewer trees need to be cut down, and far less water and chemicals are required during the production process.

These days, you can hardly tell whether recycled paper has been used. In the past, recycled paper often looked greyish or dull. Thanks to major improvements in the production process, the quality and whiteness are now virtually indistinguishable from ‘new’ paper.

The recycling process

Collected waste paper forms the basis of recycled paper. After being collected from households and businesses, the paper is transported to a paper mill. There, it is mixed with water, creating a thick, wet substance known as pulp.

This pulp is thoroughly cleaned and filtered until all ink, glue and other contaminants are removed.

During recycling, the wood fibres gradually lose strength, which can reduce paper quality. To maintain strength and durability, new wood fibres are added. These fibres preferably come from sustainably managed forests. Want to know more? Take a look at our page on FSC paper.

Saving water

Recycling paper uses significantly less water than producing new paper.

Producing new paper requires at least 25 litres of water per kilo.
Recycling waste paper into new paper uses an average of 10 to 15 litres of water per kilo.

Paper can be recycled 4 to 7 times. After about seven cycles, the fibres lose their strength and can no longer be reused.

Not all paper can be recycled

Not all paper is suitable for recycling. Toilet paper, for example, cannot be reused after use. That is a shame, considering we use an average of one roll per person per week. Because toilet paper cannot be recycled after use, it does not need to be made from strong, virgin fibres. That is why more than half of today’s toilet paper is already produced from recycled paper.

Using new paper for this purpose would be wasteful—after all, it ca not be recycled again anyway.

Woodfree paper

You may occasionally come across the term woodfree paper. It is a misleading description. Products made from bamboo or plastic are genuinely wood-free, but many paper types are incorrectly labelled as such. What the term actually means is that the wood component lignin has been removed. That is all it tells you. Wood is still very much used in the production of this paper.

In fact, the production process of so-called woodfree paper is more environmentally taxing than that of ‘regular’ paper. This is because the lignin is removed through a chemical process, which places a greater burden on the environment.

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New Energy Printing

+31 (0)347 779 407

info@newenergy.nl

Mijlweg 9-6,

4131 PJ Vianen,

The Netherlands

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