Not All Paper Is Created Equal!
Paper is not a single commodity or product but rather a group of products that comes in different strengths, thicknesses, color, and textures. Making paper entails the mixing of fibers, whether they be wood, wastepaper, cotton, linen, or one of many other materials, to create a pliable, smooth sheet. In most cases, paper is used for printing, writing, or packaging. To make a specific and consistent paper product, or grade, such as white copier paper, proper levels of certain fibers must be introduced into the production process.

Business activity dictates the kinds of paper products that are generated as waste. For example, a manufacturing company that receives boxed components will generate large quantities of corrugated containers, while an insurance company will generate a lot of office paper. Paper commonly found in business in generally classified under the following five categories: high-grade paper, sorted office paper, mixed wastepaper, newspaper, or corrugated.

Recovered wastepapers are traded worldwide. For example, newspaper collected by a curbside recycling program in Los Angeles may be shipped to a domestic paper mill in Southern California or it may be sold to a paper mill in Taiwan.

Although it may require more up-front labor, paper grades that are collected separately have the highest value and maximize market options. When paper grades are mixed, their value is reduced to the lowest grade within the mix. The following is a brief description of these categories and their market values at the point of collection. Prices paid for paper are based on shipping and handling costs and the level of service that your company requires. Paper prices are currently at their historical, cyclical low. The market value information for each paper grade is based on price ranges from the last two years and quantities of one ton or greater. Prices for smaller quantities will be lower.

High-grade Paper. High-grade paper includes computer paper (including the green and white computer paper), white ledger/office paper, and copier paper. High-grade paper is usually generated by printers and office recycling programs. High grades are collected, baled, and sent to either a domestic or a foreign paper mill by truck, train, or ship. Once at the mill, the paper is deinked and a clean pulp is created to make recycled paper products. There is also colored high-grade paper, which is considered the least desirable of the three types of high-grade papers. To get the highest value possible for high-grade paper, color high-grade should be kept separate from white ledger/office paper and computer paper.

The majority of paper from office recycling programs is used for paperboard and tissue products.

Market value: High-grade paper ranges from $20 to $150 per ton, depending on the location of the mill in relation to the source and the quantity and quality of the paper.

Sorted office paper. This is a mixture of white office and colored office paper. This paper is sold as colored paper because it is the lowest value of the two. When a recycling company sells this paper, it sometimes refers to it as "super mix". This grade is popular among office recycling programs because it reduces the need for sorting into separate paper types.

The majority of paper from office recycling programs is used for paperboard and tissue products.

Market value: Sorted office paper ranges from $0 to $40 per ton, depending on the location of the mill in relation to the source and the quantity and quality of the paper.

Mixed wastepaper.Mixed wastepaper is a mixture of different paper grades, which can include but is not limited to a combination of high-grade paper, newspaper, magazines, boxboard, colored paper, and junk mail. It has a high level of contaminants, such as labels, plastic windows in envelopes, glue, and other adhesives. This paper is often collected from curbside collection programs. Once it is collected and baled, it is transported by truck, train, or ship to either a domestic or a foreign paper mill. Here, it is turned into a pulp and used to make recycled paper products.

Mixed wastepaper is usually converted into paperboard, construction paper, or tissue products.

Market value: Sorted office paper ranges from $0 to $15 per ton, depending on the location of the mill in relation to the source and the quantity and quality of the paper.

Newspaper.Newspaper is made from groundwood and/or old newspaper that is collected from curbside recycling programs, recycling centers, and newspaper publishers. Once collected, newspaper is baled and transported to either a domestic or a foreign paper mill, where it is deinked and processed. A new deinking technology uses the shiny clay coating found on magazines to assist in the deinking of newspaper.

The majority of recycled newspaper is used in the production of newspaper. It is also used to create paperboard, packaging cartons, and tissue products.

Market value: Newspaper ranges from 0$ to $15 per ton, depending on the location of the mill in relation to the source and the quantity and the quality of the paper.

Corrugated. This paper grade is often called cardboard. It is collected from offices, retail stores, and manufacturers. Corrugated gets its name from the alternating ridges and grooves that create a thick wall, designed to protect the carton's contents. Not all corrugated containers are the same. For example, corrugated from the Pacific Rim is yellow in color and is made from rice fiber. This grade of corrugated is worth considerably less than corrugated made in the United States, which uses wood fibers. Corrugated is often confused with paperboard, which is the paper grade used for tissue and cereal boxes and the back of note pads. It is easy to differentiate paperboard from corrugated because paperboard is grayer and does not have the ridges or grooves like corrugated.

Corrugated is baled and shipped to either a domestic or a foreign paper mill. At the mill, corrugated is pulped and made into new corrugated containers, grocery bags, and paperboard.

Market value: Corrugated ranges from $5 to $50 per ton, depending on the location of the mill in relation to the source and the quantity and the quality of the of the paper.

Commingled Newspaper/Magazine Recycling Effective immediately, City offices currently recycling newspapers can now place magazines for recycling in the same container. Old newspaper remained strong in the wastepaper markets and is in good shape. According to industry sources, there is plenty of demand for newspaper and mills are stocking up on inventories. Because of this healthy development, magazines, previously left behind in collection, are now also in demand. Demand for magazines and coated stock are also up. Because of this, recyclers are now able to accept comingled loads of newspaper and magazines. Some mills use these grades as mixed paper to make paperboard products.

Let Your Fingers Do The Recycling
Phone Book Recycling. Time Marches on. We mark it on our calendars, the changing of the seasons; and the month when new telephone books arrive. All year long, new phone books arrive. All year long, new phone books are being delivered to different parts of the City. That means that OLD phone books are being disposed - and going to the landfill. But in 1993, along with the new phone books, a phone book recycling program arrived, too. The brainchild of Pacific Bell Directories, old phone books are collected and shipped to a Washington state mill, where they're recycled into paper for new phone books, insulation, wrapping for fruit and plants, or cartons and other containers. In 1994, the City collected almost 35 TONS of phone books.

Don't forget to practice phone book waste prevention too. If you receive too many phone books, call Pacific Bell (800)-848-8000 about three months before your new phone books usually arrive, to change your order.

Glass, Aluminum, Plastic, and Steel Recycling (GAPS)
The City of Los Angeles, through the City Facilities Recycling Program (CFRP), works with the Los Angeles Conservation Corps (LACC); For the collection of glass, aluminum, plastic and steel food and beverage containers. CFRP crew members and LACC corps members/interns collect the recyclables from the yellow plastic containers for recycling. Read on and learn about some interesting facts about recycling glass, aluminum, plastic and steel.

Glass