How paper is recycled

Recycling facts

The average British family throws away six trees worth of paper every year. In total, that's a forest over 35 times the size of the New Forest!

Collection and sorting
  • image of paper collection

  • Paper and card are collected with your recycling and taken to a Materials Recovery Facility (MRF) where they are separated from your other recyclable materials.

Washing and pulping
  • Paper sorting facility

  • The newspapers, magazines catalogues and paper are delivered to a paper mill where they are pulped, washed and screened. This removes all inks, glues and other contaminants.

Pressing and drying
  • Stocks of paper rolls

  • The pulp passes over a series of presses and drying cylinders to create a new sheet of recycled paper over 50 miles long! This is rolled into jumbo reels.

Printing newspapers
  • Stack of newspapers

  • These reels are then ready to print tomorrow's newspaper!