PAPER RECYCLING NOTES
at Smith College
A QUICK PREFACE ABOUT PAPER MAKING:
To understand why we can’t recycle certain items, it helps to understand a couple things about the paper-making process:

Whether made from recycled paper, trees, cotton or hemp, paper is basically an interwoven fabric of fibers, sort of like a knit sweater.  The longer the fibers, the better they weave together and the higher quality the paper.  In some paper products, the fibers are already so short they can’t be recycled or re-woven into new products.

To recycle paper, paper is added to a big vat of water and agitated to break up the fibers (kind of like a giant blender).  Certain chemical or plastic coatings do not break down in water, making it difficult to recycle some paper products.

Grease and certain food residues will stain into paper fiber.  Thus, even when the paper is recycled, the new product will still have stained fibers.
Why can’t I recycle TISSUES AND PAPER TOWELS?
Tissues, napkins and paper towels are made from a very poor quality paper with very short fibers that can’t be recycled back into anything.  In additon, most tissues, napkins and paper towels are stained with food, grease or assorted bodily fluids which can’t be recycled.

Why can’t I recycle CANDY WRAPPERS?
Many candy wrappers have a lot of chemicals in them that makes them stain and water resistant, but which also makes them difficult to recycle.  Also many candy wrappers are not paper or are stained with various food residue.

Why can’t I recycle PAPER CUPS OR PAPER PLATES?
Often times paper cups and paper plates are stained with various food residues.  Also, most paper plates are a very poor-quality short-fiber paper which cannot be recycled.  A third strike against cups and plates is that most are coated with a thin layer of wax or plastic which is not recyclable.  Thus, even clean unused paper cups or plates cannot be recycled.

Why can’t I recycle PLASTIC WINDOWS OR STICKY MAILING LABELS?
Plastic windows or sticky mailing labels on envelopes make bulk mailings very easy.  Unfortunately they’re also a recycling nightmare.  Neither the plastic windows nor the sticky self-adhesive mailing labels break down in water.  Although some are screened out, if there are too many, it will plug the screens, forcing a recycling mill to shut down and clean the screens.  This is a very frustrating and expensive operation.  Please tear out plastic windows and mailing labels before recycling envelopes.