Think about how often you use a disposable item...you'll be surprised. No doubt about it, we are a nation of consumers. Our disposable lifestyle produces a lot of waste. Were it not for recycling efforts, we would drown in a sea of paper, plastic, metal and glass. The solid waste services industry generates an estimated 40 billion dollars in revenues annually. Paper recycling is a big part of the recycling business. The United States is the largest generator and consumer of recovered paper in the world, with over 40 million tons recovered annually. Fibres International collects and processes old corrugated containers, old newspaper and mixed paper. Higher grades of paper consisting of printing and writing paper, office pack and sorted white ledger are also recycled.

Bulk grade papers are brought in from a variety of collection sights such as newspaper bins, supermarkets, retail businesses and residential curbside pick up. Materials are transported by truck to holding areas at Fibres before being loaded into balers that compress the material into large bales. High grade paper collected from printers and business offices is brought in for sorting. Sensitive documents can be shredded when this level of security is required, and then baled.

These large bales are shipped to paper mills, where the paper is broken down into fiber for reuse in new recycled paper products. Glass processing involves the sorting, cleaning, and crushing of clear, green and brown recyclable glass into furnace-ready cullet, which is ready for re-melting into new containers. After color sorting, the incoming glass is inspected for contaminants such as paper labels or plastic and ceramic pieces. Then the pieces pass over a series of grids which screen them for similar size. Powerful magnets and non-ferrous metal detectors collect and remove any metal pieces which may have been missed during initial inspection. The final cullet is then stockpiled for transport to various glass plants that manufacture glass containers of all types.

Cans and bottles often come in for processing mixed together. Co-mingled plastic and metal container sorting begins with the materials passing through a trommel, which sifts out small glass particles and other pieces. Next, an air separator blows all light plastics and aluminum cans into a conveyor and the remaining heavy glass rolls onto a separate conveyor for processing.

The plastics are further sorted into colored containers such as detergent jugs and clear plastics such as milk jugs and PET soda bottles, while aluminum cans are separated and baled or flattened for shipment to can manufacturers. Likewise, the plastics are also compacted into large bales, ready for transport to sites where they will be recycled.

For more information about the Recycling Industry, visit our Recycling Links section.

To find a local recycling company near you, visit the Fibres Locations section.