Recycling Colored Paper

Colored paper, along with any other type of paper, is recyclable.  The different types of paper,
however, require different recycling processes as they are used to make new paper products.

"Paper recycling is a large scale, multi-step process with the objective to recover the paper fibers, and often other paper components such as mineral fillers, and use them as a raw material to produce new paper.

Depending on the types of paper sourced for recycling and the final application, each recycling system is optimized accordingly....Almost all papers can be recovered and, with the proper processing, be used to produce new paper." Several different types of paper come into recycling plants with just as many requirements of the end product leaving them.

Colored paper requires some type of deinking process in order to make it usable for making new paper products. According to the Digital Print Deinking Alliance (DPDA), the most common types of deinking processes are as follows:

Flotation Deinking

"Process – In flotation deinking ink is removed through addition of chemicals such as surfactants and subsequent air introduction into the recovered pulp. The hydrophobic components such as ink particles are then selectively flotated and these components are then removed in the resulting foam.

Application – Flotation deinking is the most widely used method for ink removal in the deinking of graphic papers such as newsprint and magazine papers and also commonly used as one of the steps for deinking of papers for the production of hygiene papers. Flotation deinking is increasingly being used for producing recovered pulp for the white layers in recycled carton board and white-top corrugated liner.

Bleaching

Process – Bleaching, is the destruction of colorants in inks and the brightening of the pulp using bleaching agents such as hydrogen peroxide and sodium dithionite added during the pulping step and/or in a separate bleaching step.

Application – Bleaching is typically used to brighten recovered pulp for the production of higher quality graphic papers such as improved newsprint, for other high brightness recycled printing papers and for hygiene papers.

Washing

Process – Washing is the removal of inks and other unwanted components in the recovered pulp such as mineral fillers by washing the pulp in a diluted form on a wire screen. The fibers are recovered on the screen and the filtrate is treated to remove the unwanted solid material. Washing is only effective in the removal of small particle size inks.

Application – Washing is commonly used in the production of hygiene papers since the mineral fillers in the paper for recycling often lead to a reduction in the quality of the hygiene products and are therefore desired to be removed. Washing is also sometimes used as an additional step for producing high quality recovered market pulps from office papers. Washing is typically not used for the production of graphic papers due to the high yield loss in this process."

Colored paper is definitely worth recycling, just as the more valuable white paper, just with a few more steps to produce a new end product.

For more information on recyclable materials visit www.wasteawaygroup.com.

thedpda.org
wikipedia.org
paperonline.org
recycledpaper.org