Ordinary paper is easy to recycle. Paper mills will take waste paper in many forms, pulp it and use it to make new paper products. Paper items that are easy to recycle in this way include newsprint, magazines, office stationery, letters, catalogues, directories and so on. The staples in magazines are normally extracted using a powerful magnet. Another form of waste paper is shredded paper – usually confidential waste. Although it is made of the same material as other letters, it is harder to process because it needs to be fed into the machines differently and because it is much more bulky. The shredding process also makes the paper fibres shorter and therefore less valuable to paper producers. So for all these reasons, some mills will not process shredded waste. There are ways of recycling it, however, one of which is to recycle it with ordinary cardboard, so do check with your local recycling centre about the best way of disposing of it.
Junk mail is another commonly encountered form of paper waste. Generally, the contents are easy to recycle, like any other form of paper, but the envelopes are more difficult because they contain large amounts of glue at the seams and adhesive gum on the flap. See our envelopes page for more information!
Wrapping paper can be difficult to recycle by the normal processes because it can contain additional materials such as glitter, fibres, adhesive tape and plastic decorations. As a result, some paper mills will not accept it with other forms of paper, and some local authorities therefore ask that it be recycled with cardboard rather than with other, more easily recyclable forms of paper. Contact your local council to find out how best to dispose of it – either at the recycling centre or through your usual kerbside collection.
