COMMON MATERIALS AND OF fiCE SUPPLY PRODUCTS:RECYCLED PAPER AND RECYCLED PLASTIC.

RECYCLED PAPER

Recycled paper is paper that contains fiber from waste paper. The United States has more than 500 paper mills that currently use at least some recycled materials in production. Recycled paper is made by collecting large amounts of used paper and washing the paper to remove any ink that may be present. The paper is then literally beaten to a pulp by machines and bleached, most commonly with chlorine bleaches, to make the paper white. Once a uniform white pulp is obtained, the paper goes to a forming section, followed by a series of presses that remove the water from the pulp. The wet paper moves on to a drying stage, where the moisture content is reduced and the thickness is reduced by rolling through a number of steel rollers. It is estimated that for one ton of paper the recycling process saves over 7,000 gallons of water, 500 gallons of oil, and 600 pounds of air pollution! The practice of collecting paper for recycling is common today. The majority of recovered paper comes from businesses and industry, where the recovery rate approaches nearly 70 percent. Paper seems to be one of the most benign items with regard to human health. In the earlier years of paper recycling, a bleaching by-product called dioxin was found throughout the pulp and paper manufacturing process. Dioxin is one of the most toxic human-made chemicals known. Pulp and paper mills using chlorine-based methods of whitening create dioxin when the chlorine reacts with chemicals present in the wood and other fibers. It is interesting that chlorinated toilet paper contains the highest amounts of these harmful chemicals.

RECYCLED PLASTIC

Plastics are well known for their desirable properties of being lightweight, strong, and formed into a variety of shapes. In fact, modern plastics might just be too durable. Millions of tons of plastics are buried in land- fills and will never be broken down by nature. To address the environ- mental impact of this problem, a vigorous recycling program has been enacted to reuse plastics and minimize their effect on the environment. Plastics recycling has been a great success for polyethylene terephthalate, which is used in soda bottles, and high-density polyethylene, which is used in numerous applications from plumbing to computers. One of the biggest problems of plastics recycling is the great diversity of plastics that are collected. Certain polymers do not mix, bond, or adhere well to one another. A recycled product derived from mixed plastics can have inferior strength and durability. In cases in which plastics cannot be separated into recyclable material, they may be used as fuels in incinerators because of their large heat value. To ensure success in the recycling processes, the source materials must be relatively clean, homogeneous, and free of con- tamination. In the recycling process, homologous plastics are reduced in size to very small pieces that are heated, cleansed of impurities, and formed into small pellets. These small pellets are sold to manufacturers and can be reincorporated into a variety of products. Polystyrene coffee cups are recycled and commonly used as inexpensive stuffing for toys or beanbag chairs. Polyethylene soda bottle material may be used to make trash cans, flower pots, traffic cones, and plastic lumber. Mixed plastics that are not incinerated are used to produce extruded plastic lumber, shipping pallets, fencing, and park benches.