How Paper Is Recycled After Shredding
People don’t always put much thought into the recycling process and how it works. It’s understandable, we throw our recyclables into a big bin, put the bin to the curb at the end of the week, and wait for a truck to come and take them away. Out of sight, out of mind!
You might have heard that all types of paper can be recycled the same way. This is a myth! Paper is made of fibers and different types of paper have different fiber lengths. For example, printing paper is one of the highest grades, while tissues and toilet paper are lower grades.
That being said, both can still be useful and valuable to paper mills. Without a solid recycling program, these materials would require more trees to be cut and these products to be made from virgin sources.
Companies supply secure document collection bins for their employees to discard their confidential material into, but do you ever wonder what happens to these shreds after they’re emptied and hauled away? We’ve got the answer…
Here’s What Happens to Paper After it’s Been Shredded:
- Shredded paper is processed, bailed, and sent to a recycling mill.
- At the mill, machines called pulpers introduce water and chemicals to the paper to break it down into fibers.
- Any ink and adhesive are removed and the paper fibers start bonding together.
- The fibers are rolled and dried, then sent off to make new products, such as tissue paper, toilet paper, paper towels, and various packaging materials.
About Our Paper Recycling Practices
Shred Right is GreenSmart℠, which is our proprietary disposal approach. Once your material is shredded, we follow our GreenSmart℠ disposal guidelines to keep the material out of landfills. It’s a zero-landfill policy. All shredded paper is processed for recycling by our parent company, Rohn Industries.
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Shred Right is your locally-owned leader for shredding services, product destruction, and IT asset destruction. We are AAA NAID Certified for mobile on-site and off-site shredding vault services.
Our team has worked with government agencies, financial services, health care industries, and more, consulting on standards for privacy and security. For 35 years, we’ve been trusted to manage liability, risk, and protect corporate reputations for our customers.