Because we are in the business of supplying recycled products, we thought it might be interesting to take a look at the current state of paper recycling in the U.S.
In 1690, the Rittenhouse family established the first paper mill in the colonies to use recycled linen. This isn't all that big of a development because paper really has always been made of some type of recycled material. But in 1896, in NYC, the first major recycling center was started by the Benedetto family. They collected rags, newspaper and trash for paper making.
In the 1970s and 80s, it was very in vogue to use "recycled" paper and many corporations and businesses who specified "recycled" paper for their company literature, such as annual reports, wanted everyone to know about it. But there has been some confusion about exactly what "recycled" means. Virtually 100% of all paper is recycled. What matters most is how much "post-consumer waste" is in the content. In that period of the 70s and 80s paper mills even purposely came out with paper that even had little chips in it to demonstrate that it was recycled.
Recycled paper material comes in three types. The first is "mill broke". This is waste material recovered inside the paper mill during the paper making process. The second is "pre-consumer waste". This refers to paper that already made and may or may not have printing on it. It consists of printer's make-ready sheets, cut-offs, and rejected stocks. The last is actual "post-consumer waste". A large portion of this category are old newspapers, office and home waste, and used packaging.
In our current culture of climate change awareness and conservation in general, businesses around the world are "going green" and demanding some level of compliance to environmental concerns. 1993 marked the first year that more paper was recycled than was put in landfills. This was a historic milestone.
No comments:
Post a Comment