Paper Recycling
Paper and magazine collected at bring
sites arrive at Aylesford
Newsprint and are checked for quality as the load is tipped
into one of the four bays each with a capacity of 2,500 tonnes. The
batch is fed onto conveyor belts and enters two large rotating
drums where it is mixed with water to swell and separate the fibres
to become a pulp, Screening separates the fibres and water from
large contaminates such as cans, plastic bottles and free magazine
gifts, which are ejected onto a conveyor belt for
disposal.
The fibre and water mixture (pulp) is then
put through a series of cyclone screens, which remove smaller items
such as plastics and staples.
Compressed air is used to form soap bubbles to remove the ink
from the mixture. The ink sticks to the bubbles as they float
to the surface forming a scum that can be removed
mechanically. The pulp then goes through further cleaning
stages before hydrogen peroxide is added to brighten the fibres
then it is laid on a “forming sheet” and fed through the
machine.
This removes the water from the pulp and dries it, the newly
made paper is wound onto reels and transported to publishers
throughout the UK, Europe and some further a field. They recycle
500,000 tonnes, about one in seven newspapers and magazines every
year. This advanced process means papers can be recycled up to 8
times before the fibres become too short to knit back together
again. It takes 10 days for yesterday’s newspapers to reappear on
newsstands across the UK and Europe. The only thing to change
will be the stories.
Contact
Dover District Council Wasteline:
01304 872428
E-mail: waste@dover.gov.uk
