Paper recycling

The first piece of paper as we know it was produced from rags in AD 105 by Ts'ai Luin, who was part of the Eastern Han Court of the Chinese Emperor Ho Ti.
Paper is made from cellulose fibre, the source of which can be pulped wood, or a variety of other materials such as rags, cotton, grasses, sugar cane, straw, waste paper, or even elephant dung! In this country, wood pulp is the most common source material for the manufacture of virgin paper, i.e. paper which has no recycled content.
In 2004 recycled paper and board provided about 74% of the source materials for the 6.2million tonnes of paper manufactured in the UK's 76 paper and board mills. A further 7.7 million tonnes were imported.
There are different sources of waste fibre used as a source material for manufacturing recycled paper.
Mill Broke is "waste" paper which has never been used, either printers' off cuts or rolls damaged during production. When mixed with water the fibres are freed into pulp. The National Association of Paper Manufacturers does not recognise a paper as recycled if it contains more than 25% mill broke and/or virgin wood pulp.
The recycling of paper which has been printed on and used is known as "post-consumer waste". It is more problematic, (see de-inking below), but it is still worthwhile. Paper cannot be recycled indefinitely, it can only be recycled 4-6 times, as the fibres get shorter and weaker each time. Some virgin pulp must be introduced into the process to maintain the strength and quality of the fibre, so no matter how much we recycle we will never eradicate the need for virgin fibre.