How are paper and cardboard made?
Paper and cardboard are mostly made from a fibre called cellulose that comes from trees harvested from plantations and forests.

Wood chips are mechanically and/or chemically treated to release the fibres. This produces a pulp which is then mixed with large amounts of water to make a slurry (mush) that is passed over a continuous, rapidly moving mesh. The water is drawn through the mesh, leaving the fibres behind. This damp paper is then passed over a series of rollers to flatten and dry it, then rolled onto huge spools, and sent to factories for cutting and shaping.

Each time paper is recycled the fibres shorten and lose strength, so new fibres have to be added. Some paper and cardboard are made from other fibres such as cotton or hemp.

What happens to the paper and cardboard we put out for recycling?

Step 1 - Separation
A recycling truck takes the paper and cardboard to a Materials Recycling Facility (MRF), where it is sorted mechanically and/or by hand.

Step 2 - Baling
The paper, cardboard and newspapers are squashed into separate big cubes called bales and transported to the recycling plants.

Step 3 - De-inking and reprocessing
Used printed paper may need 'cleaning' or de-inking with special soaps to remove the ink. The waste paper is mixed with water in a giant blending machine breaking it down into a thin slurry of fibres. It is then screened to remove contamination such as plastic, string and paper clips. It is then ready to be made into paper.

Facts

• The earliest known paper was made from papyrus plants by the Egyptians in 2,200 BC.
• The Chinese made paper from rags, hemp and the bark of mulberry trees more than 2,000 years ago.
• The first paper used in Europe was made from rags and straw. These were replaced by wood chips when papermaking machines were introduced in the 18th century.
• One tree makes about 3,077 pieces of A4 paper. It takes 13 trees to make one tonne, or 40,000 pieces of paper.
• Paper can usually be recycled eight times.
• Every year Australians use around 4 million tonnes of paper and cardboard, enough to fill 183,000 large semi trailers. Less than half of this is collected for recycling.
• In 2005, over 1 billion newspapers were recycled in Australia - a recycling rate of 75%.  Australians are therefore much better at recycling newspapers than other types of paper and cardboard.
  
  Recycling Tips - Sort it, check it, keep it clean
  These types of paper and cardboard can be recycled:
  • Newspapers, magazines and brochures;
  • Telephone directories;
  • Printed or typed reports - remove clips or binders;
  • Used files/ Manila folders;
  • Computer print outs;
  • Envelopes (even those with windows); and
  • Cardboard boxes and cartons (e.g. cereal / food boxes).
    
    These paper items cannot go in the recycling bin:
    • Wax coated boxes or paper;
    • Tissue paper;
    • Thermal fax paper; and
    • Pizza boxes.
      
      What about milk cartons?
      Lots of products on the supermarket shelves, including milk, juice and laundry products, are in liquid paperboard (LPB) containers - which you may know better as tetrapacks or poppers. The cartons are made from paperboard, which is made from forestry products such as bark, offcuts and sawdust. The cartons have a plastic or foil lining to help protect their contents.
      
      The cartons collected through kerbside recycling are hand-sorted at the MRF, and then taken to the Australian Paper Plant at Nowra, NSW. They are placed in a hyrdopulper that removes the thin plastic lining and then feeds the paper pulp into a giant paper making machine. A 1 litre milk carton can be turned into five sheets of high quality office paper.
      
      Paper and Cardboard Recycling
      In 2005 Australians used 786,000 tonnes of newsprint and 75.4% was recovered for recycling.
      In 2003-2004 around 96,225 tonnes of cardboard, 1187 tonnes of liquid paperboard and 239,968 tonnes of mixed paper were collected through kerbside recycling in NSW.
      
      Close the Loop and Buy It Back!
      There's no point in recycling if we don't buy back the products made from recycled materials. Next time you go shopping choose recycled paper products such as - toilet paper, copy paper, notepads, kitchen roll, boxes, cartons and cards.
      
      Sources:
      NSW Department of Environment and Climate Change
      
      Association of Liquidpaperboard Carton Manufacturers Inc
      
      Publishers National Environment Bureau
      
      Visy Recycling
      
      Planet Ark