|
 Paper Recycling
U.S. Healthcare facilities generate nearly two
billion pounds of paper and cardboard waste every year. This
is the largest category of waste in the annual total of five billion
pounds of waste of all types from the healthcare sector. The dominance
of paper in the waste stream is true of the economy as a whole. Paper
and cardboard also constitute the largest single contributor to the overall
municipal solid waste (MSW) stream. The good news is that paper
also offers the greatest opportunity for recycling. At one time, the
use of recycled fiber was relatively rare. Today, consumers buy
recycled paper in newspapers, food packaging, tissue, and office paper,
with some items containing up to 100 percent recycled fiber. Recovered
paper is also used in materials such as insulation, gypsum wallboard,
fertilizer bags, and mulch.As markets for recycled paper have expanded,
it has become increasingly convenient for generators of paper waste to
save money and reduce the quantity sent to landfills for disposal. As
major generators of paper waste, healthcare facilities have a special
responsibility to seek out recycling opportunities.Paper waste retains
the most valuable if it is sorted by type. Facilities will find
it worthwhile to educate their staff in recognizing the various types
of paper waste, and in making it easy for everyone in the facility to
segregate paper waste by providing separate, clearly marked containers
wherever paper waste is likely to be generated. This page provides
basic information on paper waste types and recycling opportunities, along
with links to more detailed information.
Types of Paper
For recycling purposes, paper can be classified according
to the quality of the paper fiber, and the quantity and type of ink and other
contaminants included with the paper material. Fiber: Most paper
is derived from wood, a complex material with two major constituents:
- cellulose, the most desirable component for high quality
paper. Like starch, cellulose is a long chain of sugar molecules. But
while starch is easily converted back into sugar, and is thus used by both
animals and plants for storing food, cellulose is much more resistant to
degradation, and is used by plants to form tough structural units like stems
and root fibers.
- lignin, a shorter but in some ways a more complex molecule,
that cross-links the cellulose fibers, giving wood its characteristic rigidity
To make paper from wood, the main task is to loosen the
cross links, and allow the cellulose fibers to reorient into thin sheets. The
cross links are broken by cooking the pulp in a digester with chemicals (typically
sulfides, accounting for the characteristic odor of pulp mills. Thorough
digestion can separate the lignin component entirely.The best quality paper,
like white office paper, will have most of the lignin removed. In addition,
the fiber can be bleached, often with chlorine. Lower grades of paper,
like newsprint, will retain much of the lignin, and will have in consequence
an off-white color and rougher texture. In any case, the production of
paper fiber from wood is energy intensive, and produces air emissions and wastewater
effluent containing toxic compounds. Using recycled fiber avoids the most
serious impacts of the papermaking process.If high grade paper is kept separate
from other grades, it can be used in the production of more high grade paper,
and is thus of higher value. Mixed high and low grade paper can only be
used for low-end products. Facilities may find it worthwhile to separate
paper into categories including:
- Office Paper
- Magazines
- Newspapers, Telephone Directories
- Corrugated Boxes
Impacts of papermaking
- At about 36 percent, paper and paperboard products constitute
the largest portion of the MSW stream.
- Americans generated nearly 82 million tons of paper
products in the MSW stream in 2001, nearly a three-fold increase from 1960.
- Several toxic chemicals, including toxic sulfur compounds
and chlorine, are used
and discarded in making paper from wood
Alternatives
- Reduction in use when possible
- Source reduction is the process of reducing the amount
or toxicity of waste generated. One form of source reduction is "lightweighting." Lightweighting
means reducing the weight and/or volume of a package or container, which
saves energy and raw materials
- As early as 1983, companies manufacturing food service
disposables began reducing the weight of plates, bowls, containers, trays
and other tableware. Manufacturers of paper food service disposables have
been able to source reduce by decreasing the paper stock required to manufacture
food service containers and coating the containers with a very thin layer
of polyethylene or wax. The coating enables the container to maintain its
strength and food-protection functions.
- Maximize recycled content of papers you buy
Recycling
- Reduces greenhouse gas emissions that could lead to damaging
climate change.
- Saves money since recycling fiber is cheaper than harvesting
and processing virgin fiber.
- For hospitals: recycling helps reduce cost of waste disposal.
- Saves considerable landfill space, since paper products
constitute the largest fraction of MSW—accounting for nearly 40 percent
of all MSW generated, according to EPA.
- Reduces the volume of waste burned in waste combustors,
thus reducing air emissions
|
|