Life Cycle Of Paper Waste In Pakistan – What Happens To It?

Definition of Paper Waste

Any waste that includes newspapers, magazines and cardboard or any form of paper that is free of contamination and has the ability to be recycled is called paper waste.

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Sources of Paper Waste

Paper is all around us – from books to copies, to newspapers, to even packaging, everything is made up of paper so no wonder landfills around the world are filled with it. We create a very massive amount of paper waste. It was initially invented as means of communication but now it is also being used as a packaging source.

Paper is produced through wood by cutting down forests that ultimately leads to deforestation. About 42% of the worldwide wood is cut for the paper production. Through out the world about 95 million metric tonnes of paper is recovered to be recycled again into paper and paperboard. Paper waste makes up for about more than 1/3 waste in Pakistan. Paper Waste includes up to 70% of an organization’s total waste. An average office employee would be using about 10,000 sheets of paper in a year in an office-based setup. In addition to paper used for printing, companies and offices also consume other types of paper products like cardboard, envelopes, and wrappers additionally.

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Types Of Paper That Can Be Recycled Using A Standard Recycling Process

Types of paper that can be recycled is any paper is that clean (doesn’t have grease etc on it) and doesn’t have plastic coating on it. Some chemicals used on certain papers also render it unrecyclable. Apart from these all other types of papers such as office paper, newspaper, cardboard, computer printing papers and magazines, catalogs and phone books.

Types Of Paper That Cannot Be Recycled Using A Standard Recycling Process

Types of papers that cannot be recycled are coated paper, treated paper, paper with food waste, empty juice boxes and cartons, cereal boxes, paper cups, paper towels, paper with laminated plastic, magazine laminated with plastic.

Also read: 10 Simple Ways To Go Paperless At Home And In Your Business

Production Versus Recycling Of Paper

The paper is made up of cellulose which is a very diverse material used in almost every industry. Around the world over 4 hundred million of cardboard is recycled and material is recovered from it. Fifty percent of it comes from businesses and offices. Hence it is very important to find new means of paper production as it causes deforestation, pollution and requires much more effort to recycle paper as compared to its production.

Paper And Cardboard Recycling In Pakistan

Recycling of paper and cardboard requires less energy production as compared to the paper production. Most of the paper producing companies in Pakistan also recycling the waster used during the production. Recycling of paper requires less CO₂ release as compared to production.

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Use Of Recycled Materials

Nowadays newspapers are printed on recycled paper. The writing pads and printing paper have also been recycled. Even toilet paper, kitchen roll, and paper tissues most often have to recycle paper. Recycled cardboard can be found in, among other things, cardboard boxes and packaging cardboard, as well as any cardboard used for sending, storing or protecting items. The cardboard and wastepaper are recycled into new paper but the quality of material declines and reaches its full tenure after 5 times recycling. Therefore, new paper fibers are added.

Objectives Of Recycling

About 45 percent of the printing paper in Pakistan is being recycled. One tonne of recycled cardboard saves about 2.5 tonnes of the Carbon dioxide emissions and 2.5 tonnes of wood. The paper can be recycled 5 times but each time recycle degrades its quality so we have to add the cellulose fibers. It can be used in cereal and juice boxes. Pakistan needs to invest in new machines for the better result.

Landfills – The Final Place Of Waste Paper

Most of the paper that can be used for recycling ends up in our landfills in Pakistan while there is also shortage of trees in Pakistan. The paper and pulp industry in Pakistan is growing at a very rapid rate. More the rapid the industry grows more paper will be produced.

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Conclusion

There is a massive opportunity in the paper production and its recycling in Pakistan . We just need to invest in proper and new equipment and increase our researches and development in the recycling of other paper based material so that more revenue can be generated.

Also check out: 10 Latest Innovative Environmental Friendly Technologies

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