Brian Vickrey, age 13, of Kewanee, I11., for his question:
HOW IS PAPER RECYCLED?
Paper is a wonderful and important product, since communication by written or printed word is dependent on a plentiful supply of it. It is a thin, flexible product made of matted fibers. Generally, cellulose fibers used in paper are obtained from pulped wood, bamboo, grasses, leaves or rags.
It is a most interesting process by which carefully prepared pulp stock is transformed into paper on huge papermaking machines. One method uses a machine called a fourdrinier among the largest industrial machines in existence. It can be up to 600 feet long and produces paper as much as 320 inches wide at speeds up to 4,000 feet per minute.
Stock blended of various pulps and suitable for a particular kind of paper enters the machine from a storage tank called a machine chest, flowing into a tank called the headbox. At the bottom of the headbox is an adjustable opening called the slice, through which the stock flows, often under pressure, onto a continuous traveling belt made of fine wire mesh.
As the stock flows onto the moving belt, the water drains away and the fibers mat together in a matter of seconds to form a wet, fragile sheet of paper that is about 85 percent water. Suction boxes under the belt help remove some of the moisture.
As the sheet of paper travels the length of the belt, a roll smooths its surface. when the sheet reaches the suction roll, it is strong enough to be lifted off the wire by an endless woolen blanket called a wet felt. It is then conducted through two press sections where the moisture is also reduced. Then follows drying, calendering and rolling.
Paper that has been recycled is somewhat like dehydrated coffee and soup mixes. The ingredients in the original recipe are still there; they merely become solid and dry when the moisture was removed.
When paper is recycled, it is mashed and moistened to change it back into a soupy pulp. This may or may not be mixed with a new batch of pulverized wood and various chemicals.
In any case, the pulp is squeezed and warmed, rolled and dried to remove the moisture a second time. The recycled paper is as good as it was the first time.
We actually start the recycling process right in our own homes. Oaly our willing hands can gather up all of our used paper, plus the scraps that litter the landscape. If your community has a recycling center, you already know where to take your salvage paper. If you do not have such a place, then stir up some co operation to start one.