Dear Readers,
The symbol shown below is beginning to appear on more and more items and more and more items, and there is some confusion about this symbol that needs to be clarified. One of the most confusing parts seems to be the recycling category, which is paper. The category “paper” isn’t just newspapers and office paper. It also includes magazines and cardboard. All four of these categories: newspaper, office paper, magazines and cardboard, are made from trees.
According to www.scienceabc.com, cellulose fibers from wood pulp are made into a slurry, treated, dried and pressed through rollers to flatten the paper. It goes without saying, this is an oversimplification of the process, so for more exact and interesting information on the process as well as the history of the invention of paper by the Chinese as early as the 2nd century BCE see the above-named website.
The four types of recyclable paper are shown below:
PAPER
Cardboard Newspapers Office Paper Magazines
There are three parts to the “how2recycle” symbol.
1. The triangle of arrows that indicates that this item is recyclable.
2. The word PAPER that indicates the RECYCLING CATEGORY of the item to be recycled.
3. The word BOX indicates that THE ITEM TO BE RECYCLED is a Box made from paper (cardboard).
In summary, the above symbol tells you that the item is recyclable, that the recyclable item to be recycled is a BOX and that the BOX recycles with PAPER.
The recycler must then determine in which of the four types of paper the box belongs: cardboard, newspaper, office paper or magazines. At the Recycling Center there are four bins, each labeled with one of these four TYPES of PAPER. More information next week on the plastic recycling category.
Have questions about recycling, or interesting information about recycling? Send questions or requests to [CONTACT INFO]. Recycle Lady is sponsored jointly by the Greenbrier Recycling Center and Greenworks Recycling.
