Recycling is defined as reprocessing of materials to render them useful by creating new products. Recycling is one of the key components of waste management that helps in preventing wastage of useful materials, saves energy, and reduces greenhouse gas emissions as compared to virgin production. It is an effort that maximizes value of the new products and reduces environmental disturbances.

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Paper forms higher portion of waste as compared to any other material. Hence, recycling paper can turn out to be extremely beneficial in terms of the cumulative effect of saving trees. Paper recycling means to reprocess waste paper to make a usable paper product. But, paper can be recycled a finite number of times only as its fibers become weaker with recycling and require to be mixed with some virgin pulp. This is also known as downcycling. There are no specific standards set for the percentage of virgin pulp or post consumer paper to be present in the recycled paper and the percentage may vary 10:90 and vice versa. Though, the rest of the material can be used in the form of compost or biogas.

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Paper manufacturing has also evolved in the years with the advent of better technology. There used to be a time when raw materials like linen (from rags) were used. They were then washed and macerated into pulp, paper moulds were made, and then sent for pressing, sizing and finishing.

Increase in demand of paper and wood pulp, paper industry has started harvesting trees for commercial purposes and replacing the same after they are cut. Paper mills use all parts of the tree at various stages of production for energy and for pulping unlike other industries hence nothing is wasted. The various steps taken to manufacture paper are:

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‘Paper’, derived from ‘Papyrus’ is largely made from trees. Different kinds of trees are used for giving different attributes to paper as they provide different types of fibers. Per say; coniferous softwood trees like fir and spruce produce long fibers and they give high strength property to papers whereas; hardwood trees like birch produce short fibers and are used to make bulky papers. In spite of technological advancements in processes of manufacturing paper, there still remains a big challenge to make its production process environmentally sound. Read more

Written records have been an important part of communication since the beginning of civilization. Although various forms of writing have been found since centuries, it has not been the same for paper. Man tried all sorts of alternatives to write on; like cloth, bark, wood, leaves, ceramics etc. In fact, the early men used to make drawings on walls, tablets etc. for recording thoughts, but it was neither practical nor a portable method. About 5000 years ago, the Egyptians used strips of Papyrus plant found near Nile River to create smooth sheets for writing by macerating the plant into pulp, drying and pressing it whereas Greeks and Romans used waxed tablets. Pergamums are known to have used a substance made from sheep skin called parchments. Read more