Recycling Waste

As you would expect a printing company produces a considerable amount of waste. We have various waste elements such as paper, chemicals and inks, each waste product has a different method of disposal/collection as outlined below:

Waste Paper

All our waste paper is collected in special bins and removed from our premises twice a week for recycling as post-consumer waste.

Interesting fact - The first piece of paper as we know it was produced from rags in AD 105 by Ts'ai Luin, who was part of the Eastern Han Court of the Chinese Emperor Ho Ti.

In 2004 recycled paper and board provided about 74% of the source materials for the 6.2million tonnes of paper manufactured in the UK's 76 paper and board mills. A further 7.7 million tonnes were imported.

There are different sources of waste fibre used as a source material for manufacturing recycled paper.

Mill Broke is "waste" paper which has never been used, either printers' off cuts or rolls damaged during production. When mixed with water the fibres are freed into pulp. The National Association of Paper Manufacturers does not recognise a paper as recycled if it contains more than 25% mill broke and/or virgin wood pulp.
The recycling of paper which has been printed on and used is known as
"Post-consumer waste". It is more problematic, (see de-inking below), but it is still worthwhile. Paper cannot be recycled indefinitely, it can only be recycled 4-6 times, as the fibres get shorter and weaker each time. Some virgin pulp must be introduced into the process to maintain the strength and quality of the fibre, so no matter how much we recycle we will never eradicate the need for virgin fibre.
De-inking
Sometimes the ink is not removed from the paper when it is reprocessed. The ink is dispersed into the pulp, discolouring it slightly, which is why recycled paper can have a greyish tinge. If the paper is to be de-inked, this can be done in one of two ways, by washing or flotation. Washing - As the paper is pulped, chemicals can be added which separate the ink from the paper and allow it to be washed away in the large amounts of water used. (The water can then be cleaned and re-used.) Flotation- Air can be passed through the pulp, producing foam which will hold at least half of the ink and can be skimmed off.

For more interesting facts regarding recycling paper visit waste online.

Chemicals

We have various waste chemicals, which we collect into special drums, these drums are stored in a secured unit off the premises. A specialist waste collection company is employed to collect the waste chemicals on a monthly basis.

Inks

All our waste ink is placed into a special drum provided by our ink manufacturer, and the waste ink tins are collected for recycling.

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