MANASSAS, Va. — WUSA9 is bringing #EnvironmentMatters Recycle Days into 2023, with viewers from across the DMV invited to participate, but the question is: What can be recycled?
At the events, we will be shredding and recycling paper, but did you realize shredded paper should not be put in your recycling bin.
The Question:
Why can't already shredded paper be recycled? And how can it then ultimately be recycled?
The Sources:
What We Found:
Shredded paper is in fact recyclable, it just needs some special handling.
The Recycling Partnership said most material recovery facilities, where mingled recycling bins get emptied, can’t process paper shreds because they are too small.
Citizens can recycle shredded paper at community shredding events or look for facilities that shred confidential documents, Recycling Partnership said. And, that’s where companies like TrueShred come in.
“Most of our clients view what we do as a security function, but what a lot of people don’t realize is, we also get excited about recycling,” Jason Knight of TrueShred said. He and his team process paper for clients all over the DMV.
Shredded paper is dumped out of the truck into a baler, compacted into fridge-sized blocks, wrapped in wire, and shipped to paper mills.
“It goes through a de-inking process where it takes all the ink out of the paper," Knight said. "White paper like this will get turned into new computer paper. If there’s a little bit of color mixed in usually it gets turned into paper towels, but either way it's getting used for a secondary purpose.”
And that recycling has a big impact. According to the company, TrueShred processes about 140,000 pounds of paper each week - that’s 28,000 reams.
“Last year alone we saved 34,000 trees, 6,600 cubic yards of landfill space, 200,000 gallons of diesel, 700,000 gallons of water, 207 million kilowatts of electricity through our recycling process,” Knight said.