Paper Recycling

COST CUTTER: Higher grades of recycled pulp require more reprocessing steps, progressively raising their cost to that of virgin pulp produced from trees, in general, cereal and shoe-box cardboard pressed from recycled material is significantly cheaper than a similar product made from new fiber, says Richard A. Venditti of North Carolina State University. Corrugated boxes and newsprint cost somewhat less. There are no real savings for office paper.

RESIDENTS RULE: Some 86 percent of U.S. residents have access to curbside or drop-off recycling, according to the American Forest and Paper Association. Participation is fairly high but could still improve. Schools are less likely to recycle; businesses even less so. Greater compliance would help collectors make money, in part because fast-growing countries such as China want to buy more wastepaper as an inexpensive raw material.

SEE IT, SORT IT: Sensors in the first automated sorting machines identify primarily the color of paper passing on a conveyor, allowing them to separate, say, brown bags from copier paper. Other sensors being perfected at companies such as MSS, Inc., in Nashville, Tenn., and in university projects funded by the Department of Energy can distinguish between the black and white of office documents and that of newsprint as well as differences in gloss among consumer packaging.

By: Fischetti, Mark, Scientific American