UNPACKING THE PAPER RECYCLING PROCESS

A repulper contains the waste paper, water, de-inking agents and chemicals, and softens paper fibres into a slurry

Paper recycling is a complex activity involving citizens, informal waste collectors, small businesses, buy-back centres and paper recycling mills. Here’s how it works...

This is the separation of general waste from recyclables at the ‘source’ of consumption: homes, offices, schools, retailers, factories, etc. It is one of the most important steps in recycling, as it ensures that paper and paper packaging is kept dry and uncontaminiated by wet waste.

Unfortunately, only a small percentage of South Africans separate at source, which means a lot of useful paper gets contaminated in refuse bins, reducing its suitability and availability for recycling. Paper products need to be clean and dry to retain the structure and integrity of the fibres.

Waste paper as a raw material has value. This has led to the rise in the number of informal collectors (waste pickers) who weave their way through cities, suburbs and communities to reclaim saleable material.

The collection of recyclables entails several avenues before reaching a mill. It is often facilitated by waste pickers, small to mediumsize enterprises, or waste merchants. Waste management companies also have agreements with large businesses to collect their recyclables. At a buy-back centre, collectors and traders sell the recyclables per kilogram. The price is variable, depending on market conditions such as supply and demand.

Different paper types are sorted and baled into their categories, largely guided by the South African Standard Grade Definitions of Recovered Paper and Board. Recycled paper calls for specific ingredients depending on the required function of the new material.

Once sorted, the sorted grades are fed onto a conveyor and into a baling machine. These bales will be loaded onto a truck or conveyor, destined for a recycling mill.

This means it can be reused as a raw material in a new product. Even if something is recyclable, it does not mean that it can be collected efficiently or recycled locally. Things like little sugar sachets and straw paper coverings are fully recyclable but difficult to collect and bale due to their size. Something might be recyclable, but not easily or locally, requiring special technology to extract the raw material, such as paper fibre in milk and juice cartons, or liquid board packaging. Furthermore, waste reclaimers and traders may not take certain items as they are deemed low value for them, considering the distances they need to travel and the volumes they are carrying.

This means that a product is being recycled locally in South Africa using available technology and capacity. Recycling – whether paper, plastic, glass or tin – is a volume-driven exercise. For a product to be recycled, it needs to be commercially viable.

This means large volumes of the same paper grade or type need to be processed to ensure economies of scale.

Bales are fed into a repulper. Water, de-inking agents and chemicals are added to soften paper fibres into a slurry.

Once the waste paper has been pulped, it is put through a series of screens to extract contaminants such as staples, sand, glues and tape. Once clean, the pulp is sent to the paper machine for forming and drying.

The end products of this process are jumbo reels of paper. These reels will be used to convert into various products depending on the paper type: linerboard, fluting, paper bags, cardboard boxes of various kinds and tissue products.

Some mills may sell the reels to converters; others are integrated and will do the converting on-site.

Brown kraft paper can made into paper bags, linerboard and fluting in cardboard boxes. Jumbo reels of tissue paper are cut and wound into smaller toilet rolls or boxed as facial tissue for retail.

Some paper products make their way to factories to be filled and shipped to supermarkets, for use in our homes, offices or schools.. And the process starts all over again. Except toilet paper of course, which cannot be collected due to its form of disposal, that is down the toilet.