Recycling of waste paper | News

Increase of the waste paper recovery capacity in Estonia by using waste paper to produce universal packaging materials and other products.

Approximately 100,000 tonnes of waste paper and cardboard is generated annually in Estonia. So far, only about one third of it is collected and recycled. Opportunities to recycle waste paper are very limited in Estonia. Therefore, most of the waste paper collected is recycled outside of Estonia.

The aim of the planned project is to increase the waste paper recovery capacity in Estonia by using waste paper (paper and cardboard packaging, old office paper, etc.) to produce universal packaging materials and other products (packaging corners, edge protectors, furniture board, etc).

The planned process consists of the following steps:

– Raw paper is mechanically crushed and mixed with water;
– The pulp is moulded and dried in a vacuum-forming machine; the product is removed from the mould using pressurised air;
– The products are moved onto a conveyor belt and dried with hot air;
– The products are stacked and packaged.

This paper pulp moulding process requires less energy than the traditional method. The process does not generally involve any chemicals because the pulp is not bleached, however different additives can be used to enhance certain qualities of the final product (colour, resistance to humidity). Since the water is cleaned and recycled within the system, it has minimal requirements on the water supply. The pulp moulding process consists of four main stages: pulping; forming; drying and post-production processing.

Expected outcome:

Improvement of waste management system: 6,500 MT of waste paper recycled per annum 81,000 m² of cardboard-like paper-core production material of a quality similar to plywood

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