In an update to her Summer 2019 webinar, Dr. Nurcin Celik will provide an overview of paper recycling and the challenges it faces today with a focus on her REMADE-funded project. She will discuss the sources and types of paper and the processes by which they are separated and recycled into quality paper products. Her graduate student, Temitope Runsewe will then discuss the statistical analysis conducted and identify the major factors that contribute to the contamination of inbound and outbound materials. They will also discuss how these challenges could be turned into new economic and environmental opportunities for future recycling by building on recommendations from best practices and emerging technologies.

Paper is one of the most recycled materials globally today. Producing paper with recycled fibers consumes 30-70% less energy and emits less greenhouse gas than using virgin (fresh-cut) wood. However, with current paper recovery practice, more foreign matters are commingled with the recycled paper which include plastic films, metal foils, glass debris, and food residues. In addition, more and more additives are added to the current papermaking or converting process such as inorganic fillers, starch, wet-strength polymers, wax and coating materials, which will become “contaminants” in the paper remanufacturing. Contaminants in recycled paper not only make the paper remanufacturing process more costly but also affect the quality of the paper remanufactured.

In this webinar, Dr. Kecheng Li will present an overview of the paper recycling process with a focus on the challenging issues in the paper remanufacturing process. Dr. Kecheng Li is a professor and Chair of the Department of Chemical and Paper Engineering at Western Michigan University. He has more than 20 years of experience in pulp and paper research and technology development.

During this webinar, Dr. Nurcin Celik provided an overview of paper recycling and the challenges it faces today with the ever-increasing prevalence of single stream recycling.

She discussed the sources and types of paper and the processes by which they are separated and recycled into quality paper products. Dr. Celik also discussed how these challenges could be turned into new economic and environmental opportunities for future recycling.