Recycling Paper Manufacturing Process

Pulping: Bales of recycled paper are fed by conveyer to a piece of equipment called a pulper which mixes the paper with water and breaks down the paper to strands of cellulose called fibers. Other contaminants like plastic, strings, and staples are removed. The fiber slurry then passes through a series of cleaners and screens to remove other contaminants before entering the deinking process.

Deinking: Printing inks and other foreign objects in paper are mechanically or chemically removed so the cellulose fibers can be reused or recycled.

Refining, color stripping and bleaching: Pulp is beaten to make the fibers swell. Large bundles of fibers are separated into individual fibers. Color stripping removes dyes from the paper, and then the pulp is bleached with chlorine-free chemicals.

Papermaking: Pulp enters the paper machine where it is sprayed on a flat wire screen. As the slurry moves along this screen, water starts to drain from the pulp, and the fibers bond together to form a continuous sheet of paper. The sheet is transported through felt-covered rolls that press out more water. It passes through heated metal rolls that dry the paper. After passing through the dryers, the paper is pressed between hydraulically loaded rolls to smooth out the paper and apply finish or smoothness.

Finishing: Paper is wound into five-ton parent rolls, then cut and rewound into rolls meeting customer width and diameter specifications.