RECYCLING MEANS USING PRODUCTS MADE OF RECYCLED MATERIAL

Recycling is a loop. The key to completing this loop is to make sure we are buying truly recycled items. As demand increases, the price decreases. We must be willing to pay a little more now for recycled paper in order to increase the demand and drive the price down in the future.

Post-consumer waste (PCW) is the key term when buying paper. It refers to the used paper from recycling bins. “Recycled paper” may only use mill scraps not real recycled paper from bins. Ideally, unbleached, 100 percent PCW paper is what more people, businesses and organizations should be using on a regular basis to start completing the recycling loop.

Do we really need every piece of paper to be perfectly white, especially those file copies that customers never see? In paper, white means chlorine bleaching. Chlorine bleaching makes the paper mill industry the worst water polluter in the world, discharging toxic chlorides which accumulate in the environment, cause cancer or genetic damage, and lead to reduced reproductivity in fish.

If a recycled paper is made from 100 percent recycled fibers, it does not require much bleaching and can be done easily with an oxygen-based process. 

According to treecycle.com, post consumer waste recycled paper reduces water pollution by 35 percent, reduces air pollution by 74 percent, and eliminates many toxic pollutants.

If you are not using recycled products, you are not really recycling

Tonya Duncan