Information on Recycling Paper

Page Contents:

What are the Different Types of “Paper”?
Massachusetts Laws and Regulations
Benefits of Recycling Paper
Paper Recycling Tips
Paper Source Reduction Tips
Paper Recycling Services
Buying Recycled Paper Products
Facts & Figures
Associated Links/Referenced Sources

What are the Different Types of Paper

Paper is generally divided into high and low grades. A grade refers to the quality of a paper or pulp and is ranked against other paper or pulps on the basis of its use, appearance, performance, manufacturing history, raw materials, or a combination of these factors. High paper grades traditionally include computer print-out (CPO), white ledger (office paper), and colored ledger (office paper). Low paper grades include cardboard (OCC), newspaper (ONP), magazines (OMG), and mixed office paper. The grades are summarized below:

High Grades

Computer print-out (CPO): High quality paper designed for use in continuous-feed impact and laser printers.

White ledger (office paper): Most white office paper is in single sheets (cut sheet) or continuous forms, including white computer paper, copy paper, letterhead, and white notebook paper.

Colored ledger (office paper): Same as white ledger only the paper is colored.

NOTE: Some paper that appears to be colored ledger may in fact be white ledger. Try the “tear test” by tearing a piece of the paper. If the fibers along the tear appear white then the paper should be considered white ledger.

Low Grades

Cardboard: Also known as Old Corrugated Cardboard (OCC). It is primarily used for shipping containers in the form of cardboard boxes. For information on cardboard recycling see WasteCap’s web page: “Information on Recycling Cardboard”
(www.wastecap.org/commodites/cardboard/cardboard.htm)

Newspaper: Also known as Old News Paper (ONP). It is used primarily for making newsprint.

Magazines: Also known as Old Magazines (OMG). They are characterized as coated publications, typically printed on groundwood paper, with pages secured either by staples or a glued binding typically not exceeding one inch.

Mixed Office Paper: A mixture of various grades of recyclable waste paper not limited by fiber content and includes most types of clean and dry paper including, glossy, white ledger and computer papers, newspapers, magazines, catalogs, phone books, cards, laser-printed white ledger, windowed envelopes, and sticky notes.

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Massachusetts Laws And Regulations

There is a waste ban, or restriction, on the disposal and transfer for disposal of recyclable paper at landfills and combustion facilities. Recyclable paper is defined as all paper, cardboard, and paperboard products excluding tissue paper, toweling, paper plates, cups, and other low-grade paper products that become unusable to paper mills as a result of normal intended use.

As outlined in the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection’s (DEP) regulations in Section 19.017(3), restrictions on the disposal of recyclable paper from landfilling or incineration took effect as of December 31, 1994. While generators of these materials are not monitored for recycling paper, haulers that transport recyclable paper to incinerators or landfills may be turned away for delivering these materials to landfills and combustion facilities for disposal.

For further information about the waste bans view the MA DEP’s website at www.state.ma.us/dep/recycle/regs.htm or call the DEP InfoLine at 617-338-2255.

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Benefits of Recycling Paper:

· Save Money: Recycling services can be cheaper than trash disposal services in many cases. Paper is usually the largest portion of the waste stream in a business office. By separating your paper from your trash your company may save money in trash disposal costs.

· Comply with the Massachusetts Waste Bans: There is a waste ban, or restriction, on the disposal and transfer for disposal of recyclable paper at landfills and combustion facilities. For Further details view the Massachusetts Laws and Regulations section of this page.

· Improve Your Organization’s Image: By using fewer resources and reducing the amount of waste sent to landfills and incinerators, a company may enhance its customer and community image.

· Divert Material from Disposal: Keeping paper out of the waste stream will save landfill space and reduced pollution through avoided incineration.

· Conserve Natural Resources: By substituting old paper to be used in place of trees, recycling reduces the pressure to cut down trees.

· Save Energy: The steps in supplying recycled materials to industry (including collection, processing and transportation) typically use less energy than the steps in supplying virgin materials to industry (including extraction, refinement, transportation, and processing). But, most energy savings associated with recycling accrue in the manufacturing process itself, since recycled materials have already been processed at least once¹.

· Reduce Greenhouse Gas Emissions: By reducing the amount of energy used by industry, recycling reduces greenhouse gas emissions that may lead to global warming. Energy used in the industrial processes and in transportation involves burning fossil fuels like gasoline, diesel and coal¹.

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¹Source: Northeast Recycling Council (NERC) web site: www.nerc.org/fsheets/ma.html

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Recycling Tips:

There are multiple options an organization has when recycling paper--ranging from sorting multiple grades of paper to a simple mixed paper system. By separating higher value grades of paper, such as white ledger, an organization can lower its cost of recycling. On the other hand, a mixed paper collection system that has a lower monetary value will divert a greater volume of the office waste stream. Many organizations combine the two options by placing high-grade white office paper in one bin and mixing all other paper grades in another bin. Ultimately, how an organization chooses to recycle its paper will depend largely on the type of waste paper generated, the office size and location, and employee participation.

Recycling paper involves additional collection and processing services for which a fee is generally charged. However this cost may be offset by the sale of recovered paper, depending on the market, as well as the avoided disposal costs.

Commercial/Office Tips

1. Designate a Coordinator to Oversee the Program:

Before contacting any recycling service, it is a good idea for an organization to designate a recycling program coordinator. This person should provide the necessary liaison among management, supervisors, maintenance staff, and outside contractors. This individual will monitor the operation of the program to ensure that employees understand their role in making it work and that the commitments to and from the recycling contractor are being fulfilled.

2. Find a Waste Paper Hauler/Recycler:

A complete listing of paper recycling services serving Massachusetts can be found in WasteCap’s Recycling Services Directory and Markets Guide for Massachusetts, available online.

3. Identify Collection and Storage Needs:

For the greatest participation in an office recycling program, collection should begin at each desk. By providing small recycling containers at each desk, employees can sort their recyclable paper beside their desk and deposit the remaining material into their regular wastebaskets. The goal is to make recycling easy.

It is very important to identify adequate space where waste paper can be stored between pick-ups. Larger offices generally have custodial personnel collect the recyclable paper from desk side bins and deposit it in larger bins located outdoors or on a loading dock. It is best to discuss individual storage needs with the hauler.

Generally haulers will supply large collection containers for central storage areas. The organization must purchase its own desk-side recycling bins. A listing of vendors who sell recycling bins can be found at http://www.wastecap.org/wastecap/resources/containers.htm

4. Involve and Educate the Custodial Staff:

If the custodial staff is involved in the recycling process, it is extremely important for them to receive thorough education, communicate problems to the coordinator, and receive new employee training as well as refreshers on recycling procedures.

5. Educate the Staff:

Educating the staff is the most important step in any recycling program. Without employee cooperation, and proper knowledge of what and how to recycle, the program will not work. This step takes effort-- to many employees it could mean developing a new habit of separating recyclable paper from trash.

Give employees several announcements about the program before it begins. These announcements should indicate management support for the program and include as much information as possible about collection procedures. Employees should receive a thorough list of contaminant material that should not be placed in the bins. If you are not sure what is considered a contaminant, contact your recycler.

            Common contaminants:
             ·         Foil
             ·         Food wrappers
             ·         Carbon paper
             ·         Paper cups
             ·         Copy paper wrappers
             ·         Used tissues

6. Monitor and Promote the Program

Memos updating the success of a recycling program can help reinforce office interest. Publicity in company publications or other memos is important in keeping your employees (especially new ones) informed and enthusiastic about the program. Memos might highlight the amount of paper recycled, trees saved, disposal costs saved, or seek suggestions for improving the program.

7. Give Incentives

It may be a good idea to use some of the cost savings from the recycling program toward employee incentives. Rewards such as gift certificates, monetary awards, or employee appreciation breakfasts or lunches can really motivate staff.

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Paper Source Reduction Tips:

Despite the growth of electronic communication in business, or perhaps because of it, the use of copy paper is surging. The American Forest & Paper Association reports that the paper industry distributed 1.7 million tons of office paper in 1982. By 1997, that amount soared to 4.6 million tons. According to a Worldwatch Institute report, the average American office worker now uses about 12,000 sheets of paper per year.

The High Cost of Paper Use

The cost of paper use is often overlooked. It’s not unusual for large organizations to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars per year on paper and related expenses. However, since almost every department in an organization consumes paper, the total cost of paper to the company usually doesn’t stand out in budget reports. And the cost of paper itself, about ½ cent per sheet, is deceptively small compared to the cost of a printed page, which includes toner, the use of a copy machine or printer, and the cost of machine maintenance. Thus, the printed page typically costs 5 to 10 times as much as the cost of paper alone. Other expenses associated with paper use include postage, file cabinets, forms, rental costs for the space devoted to file cabinets, off-site storage, and waste removal.

Another significant cost is that productivity often suffers when employees work on paper. For example, it takes far less time to post a document or send it electronically than to load a machine with paper, fix a paper jam, address envelopes, sort and distribute envelopes, file paper, and haul away used paper. And, when documents are sent electronically, they reach the readers instantaneously.

When an organization decreases paper use, many environmental benefits are realized. The EPA estimates that paper products represent 38% of America’s municipal solid waste stream. Source reduction keeps paper from landfills and incinerators. It also reduces the use of fossil fuels and water. And source reduction saves trees, which absorb carbon dioxide, produce oxygen, and provide habitat for wildlife.

How to Minimize Paper Use in Your Organization

Many companies have taken steps to decrease paper use. The Boston Globe reduced the size of their newspaper, as many other publishers have done. Several years ago, Bell Atlantic trimmed the size of their telephone books by fitting more information and less white space on each page. Harvard Pilgrim Health Care cut the size of their physician directories by one third, saving 40 million pages and more than $200,000 per year. Bank of America slashed paper consumption by 25% in two years by carrying out a multi-faceted paper use reduction campaign.

Here are some paper use reduction strategies to consider for your organization:

Analyze your largest documents, such as publications and major mailings to customers, for opportunities to reduce paper use. Slash paper volume by using a smaller font size, a space efficient font such as Times New Roman, smaller margins, less white space, reduced image sizes, and both sides of the page. Consider lighter weight paper. Also, you can eliminate paper use altogether by posting these documents on-line, sending them on disk, or sending them as an email attachment.
Pare down your distribution lists. Organizations that keep up-to-date lists of their customers, suppliers, and staff realize great savings on paper, postage, and staff time. The National Change of Address program of the U. S. Postal Service helps organizations maintain current addresses for customers.
Send internal reports electronically or on disk. For reports that must be on paper, use two-up (two pages printed on one side) and two-sided printing.
Conduct business with customers and suppliers on-line, using the Internet or a corporate extranet. Use Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) technology for paperless business transactions.
Use your corporate intranet and shared drives to the greatest extent possible. Place data bases, manuals, meeting minutes, internal phone books, newsletters and other common documents there, so staff can access them electronically. Train staff to use your organization’s intranet and shared drives as the preferred means of document storage and communication, so your organization can retrieve documents more easily, save time, and reduce costs. Teach staff to use password protection for confidential documents.
Use data compression software for storing large quantities of data electronically, rather than on paper.
Reset software before distributing it to staff. Many software packages, like Microsoft Word and Excel, are not designed to use paper efficiently. You can make them more efficient by reducing the font and margins and eliminating banner pages. Remember to reset your email software, too.
Purchase printers and copiers capable of printing on both sides. Establish two-sided printing as the default. Purchase or lease digital copiers rather than analog copiers, because they make two-sided copies more reliably. To minimize paper jams, train staff to keep paper in its wrapper until ready for use and to load paper into the machines correctly (curl side up or down, depending on the machine).
Educate staff about the importance of paper use reduction. Encourage them to store files electronically rather than in hard copy, use both sides of the page, print email messages only when necessary, make the least number of hard copies necessary, route documents rather than distribute copies, post documents in central locations, proof documents on the computer, and use scrap paper whenever possible. Explain the business reasons and the benefits to society of using less paper.
Put forms on-line. For examples and background, see: http://www.govtech.net/magazine/story.phtml?id=3030000000003962.0.
Stop ordering hard copy version of yellow pages. Use Verizon’s CD Rom version, instead.
Reduce your junk mail. Many companies spend inordinate time sorting and delivering junk mail, and it adds to their waste disposal costs. King County: has good suggestions for reducing junk mail: dnr.metrokc.gov/swd/resrecy/wasteprevention/junkmail.shtml. Also, your organization can eliminate the mail received by former employees, for free, by contacting Red Flag, http://www.controlthemail.com.

One last suggestion--calculate the benefits of your program. To determine how much money your organization saves, use a conservative estimate of three cents per page, and add in the associated costs of paper use mentioned above. Take an educated guess at the time saved by your organization as it replaces paper with electronic storage and communication. And calculate the number of trees saved by using the figure of 8,400 pages per tree. Then communicate the achievement of your program. Your staff, your shareholders, your customers, and your children will appreciate the effort.
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Source: Reduce Paper Use in Your Organization: How to Save Money, Time, and Trees
by Dan Ruben, WasteCap

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Paper Recycling Services

The Recycling Services Directory and Market Guide for Massachusetts:
This online Directory lists vendors who accept, collect, or purchase recyclable materials from Massachusetts communities and businesses.

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Buying Recycled Paper Products

Recycling does not begin and end at the recycling bin. Purchasing products with recycled content is a critical step businesses can take to create and stimulate markets for the recyclable materials collected. Buying recycled is key to to closing the recycling loop.

Paper use is expanding rapidly throughout the world. According to a Worldwatch Institute report, there has been a six-fold increase in paper consumption since 1950. Due to the popularity of personal computers, high-speed printers, copiers, and fax machines, the fastest growing segment is copy paper. The average U.S. employee now uses more than 12,000 sheets per year, and that number is growing rapidly.

Buying recycled paper, along with other strategies, helps to mitigate the impact of soaring paper use. The advantages of purchasing recycled paper include:

Solid waste: The EPA estimates that paper products represent 38% of America’s municipal solid waste stream. By collecting used paper, manufacturing it into recycled paper, and selling it, paper is kept out of landfills and incinerators.

Energy: Recycled paper is produced in an energy efficient manner.

Water: Relatively small amounts of water are required to make recycled paper.
Trees: Buying recycled paper saves trees, which absorb carbon dioxide, produce oxygen, and provide habitats for wildlife.

Publications on Buying Recycled Paper Products:

Some publications are only available in Portable Document Format (PDF). To view PDF files, you must have a copy of Adobe Acrobat Reader. To download a free copy of the reader or for more information about Adobe Acrobat click the banner below.

Buy Recycled! A Guide for Massachusetts Businesses (557 KB) helps your company begin or expand its purchase of products with recycled content. Buy Recycled! outlines why to buy recycled products, how to start buying recycled, and what information to include in your purchasing specifications to your emphasize commitment to buying recycled. Available online in .PDF format. Note: Download time varies depending on modem speed, please be patient.

2000 Recycled Product Suppliers Director with Environmentally Preferably Products (133 KB)
This Directory contains over 850 product listings from Massachusetts companies that sell recycled products as well as environmentally preferable products (EPPs). Updated May, 2000. Available online in .PDF format. Note: Download time varies depending on modem speed, please be patient.

Links on Buying Recycled Paper Products:

The Recycled Products Purchasing Cooperative (RPPC)
www.recycledproducts.org
The RPPC is a non-profit program dedicated to natural resource conservation. The goal of Co-op is to increase the use of recycled copy paper on a national basis. The RPPC offers 30% and 100% post consumer recycled copy paper at competitive prices. WasteCap is the New England affiliate of the RPPC.

Recycled Paper Coalition
www.papercoalition.org
The primary principle endorsed by the Coalition is the need to conserve natural resources and reduce waste by purchasing "environmentally-preferred" paper products and by maximizing the efficient use of paper. The objective is to bring purchasing strength to the recycled paper market by stimulating demand for recycled paper products, especially those made from materials ("postconsumer content") that would otherwise be discarded.

Buy Recycled Business Alliance
brba.nrc-recycle.org
Established by the National Recycling Coalition in 1992, the Buy Recycled Business Alliance (BRBA) is a group of organizations committed to increasing the procurement of recycled content products through education and leadership by example. The BRBA website contains a good amount of informative publications about buying recycled products.

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Facts & Figures:

To make one ton of paper using recycled fiber saves the following:

17 trees
3.3 cubic yards of landfill space
360 gallons of water
100 gallons of gasoline
60 pounds of air pollutants
10,401 kilowatts of electricity
(source: United States Environmental Protection Agency)

Nearly 218,000 tons of shredded paper is used each year for animal bedding. (source: American Forest & Paper Association)
Recycling paper uses 60% less energy than manufacturing paper from virgin timber. (source: Environmental Protection Agency)
Recycling office waste paper saves valuable landfill space – 3 cubic yards for every ton of paper recycled – and extends the lives of our landfills. (source: National Office Paper Recycling Project, The United States Conference of Mayors)
Old newspapers are commonly used to make tissue and cardboard, while magazines are often recycled into newspaper. (source: Temperate Forest Foundation)
Each person in the United States consumes approximately 675 pounds of paper per year. (source: Temperate Forest Foundation)
The material that makes up the largest percentage of the waste stream is paper. Businesses use the greatest amount. (source: Browning-Ferris Industries)
Every year, Americans throw away enough office and writing paper to build a wall 12-feet high, stretching from Los Angeles to New York City. (source: Browning-Ferris Industries)
If everyone in the United States recycled one-tenth of their newspapers, we could save about 25 million trees every year. (source: Browning-Ferris Industries)
In the U.S., more than one third of the fiber used to make new paper products comes from recycled paper. (source: American Forest & Paper Association)

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Associated Links:

SOURCE REDUCTION

Cutting Paper
eetd.lbl.gov/Paper/html/concept.htm
The Cutting Paper web site is developed to provide information to help the motivated office worker reduce paper use. The site includes facts on copy paper, steps to take when reducing paper, and tips on how to measure and count savings from paper reduction. The "Cutting Paper" Site was funded by the U.S. Department of Energy, Waste Minimization Program.

RECYCLING

Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection's
Recycling Information for Business and Industry
www.state.ma.us/dep/recycle/business.htm
This webpage provides a series of links for information about recycling for Massachusetts Business and Industry.

National Office Paper Recycling Project’s Office Paper Recycling Guide http://es.epa.gov/techinfo/facts/recypapr.html
An extensive guide outlining the how, what, when, where, and why’s of collecting recyclable office waste paper, as well as the importance of buying recycled products. Highly recommended to any organization that wants to start a recycling program or improve on an existing one. The National Office Paper Recycling Project is a program of the United States Conference of Mayors.

ReThink Paper
www.rethinkpaper.org
ReThink Paper, a project of the Earth Island Institute, works to educate the government, industry, and the general public about ecological paper issues. ReThink Paper's education and advocacy efforts are based on extensive research. Staff members work with government researchers, university professors, professional papermakers, economists, chemists, forestry experts, and farmers to obtain research data pertaining to the non-wood, recycled and virgin wood-based paper industries. ReThink Paper produces web-based fact sheets, technical monographs, and other reports on ecological papermaking. The site also includes a comprehensive consumer guide to ecological paper options.

Temperate Forest Foundation
www.forestinfo.org
The Temperate Forest Foundation is a non-profit, public charity. Their mission is to educate the public on the issues and options surrounding the conservation and development of natural resources. They emphasize the role of the forest, trees, and wood in supporting human populations and quality of life. Their web page contains facts about paper recycling as well as related links.

BUYING RECYCLED CONTENT PAPER

Conservatree
www.conservatree.com
Conservatree is a nonprofit catalyst and advocate for ecologically sustainable paper markets, combining environmental commitment with paper industry and technical savvy to provide practical tools and realistic strategies for successful conversion to environmentally sound papers. The Conserveatree website contains information on environmentally sound papers on the market

Buy Recycled Business Alliance (BRBA)
brba.nrc-recycle.org
Established by the National Recycling Coalition in 1992, the Buy Recycled Business Alliance (BRBA) is a group of organizations committed to increasing the procurement of recycled content products through education and leadership by example. The BRBA website contains a good amount of informative publications about buying recycled products.

TRADE/TECHNICAL ASSOCIATIONS

American Forest & Paper Association
www.afandpa.org
AF&PA is the national trade association of the forest, paper, and wood products industry. They represent member companies engaged in growing, harvesting and processing wood and wood fiber; manufacturing pulp, paper, and paperboard products from both virgin and recycled fiber; and producing engineered and traditional wood products.

Technical Association of the Pulp and Paper Industry (TAPPI)
www.tappi.org
TAPPI is a technical association offering information, products, services, and knowledge-sharing opportunities for the worldwide pulp, paper, and converting industries.

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