The Paper Trail

The paper we collect has quite a journey!
Follow the paper trail:

1. Urban Impact collects paper materials directly from
your office or place of business.

Each day our trucks return to our North Richmond Materials
Processing Facility (MRF). The trucks empty their paper into our secure warehouse...

2. Paper is then sorted over moving conveyor.

All different grades of paper are sorted by hand. Here are some of the different grades of paper we sort: newsprint, kraft paper,white paper, colored paper, and magazines...

3. Once we have accumulated large amounts of each type of paper -

Urban Impact bales the paper into large cubes...

4. The bales are stored and shipped to processing mills...

...in the Pacific North West and as far away as Korea...

5. Once paper is received at a Processing Mill,

It is soaked in water and agitated to release the fibres, turning them back into pulp...

6. To prevent the ink from being dispersed into the pulp and producing a dull grey paper, the ink is removed

Finishing chemicals are added and the pulp can then be pressed into sheets and dried, or mixed with virgin pulp...

7. Recycled and virgin pulp is often mixed into various proportions depending on the quality of paper being produced

Paper cannot be recycled indefinitely as fibres from a tree get shorter each time they are pulped. Paper fibres can be recycled between 4-6 times before they disintegrate and lose their papermaking qualities.

The Ink Removal Process

Ink is removed from pulp and paper through one of the following methods:

Chemicals separating the ink from the pulp is added, and then washed away with large volumes of water (which is generally reused); or
Air is passed through the pulp producing a foam that holds the ink so it can be skimmed off.
Pulp can also be bleached using chlorine, or preferably hydrogen peroxide, which breaks down into water and oxygen on disposal (chlorine which can combine with organic matter to produce toxic pollutants).

Although the de-inking process uses water and various chemicals, the chemicals and quantities used are much less than in the manufacture of virgin paper.