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The Myth of Plastic Recycling.
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this post was submitted on 02 May 2025
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I was under the impression that the chemicals involved in recycling paper products, combined with the fact that virgin paper is almost entirely sourced from managed, quick-growing tree farms, make paper recycling also undesirable?
Have heard similar things. And it's also true that timber farming is a (very marginal) form of carbon drawdown, assuming the wood products are not burned. But then in theory recycling could allow some of that land to return to nature, which better in all ways. It's a systems problem.
The chemical issue is presumably bleaching for white paper. But thick brown cardboard is basically just degraded wood fiber so that at least must be pretty efficient to downcycle into toilet paper.
Update: there's also another chemical issue in de-inking, maybe that's what you were referring to. Personally I don't bother recycling my tiny amounts of paper waste, for these reasons. Thick cardboard must be a win though.