Paper Recycling History
Today, many people are worried about the environment and how it is deteriorating. To reduce the number of trees that are being felled to produce paper, people are resorting to paper recycling. They want to do their bit for the environment and this is one of the easiest ways of contributing. |
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The strangest part is that while paper recycling history in the modern era began just in the 19th century, paper is being recycled from the very beginning. Today, there are laws in several states and even countries which require laypeople as well as businesses to resort to paper recycling. Hopefully, this will help to reduce deforestation. In addition, with the improvements in the methods of recycling, the process is much greener and does not cause environmental pollution.
Paper recycling history reveals that this process has been going on in the US from 1690, when a paper mill was set in Philadelphia. The person instrumental for setting up the mill was William Rittenhouse. The mill made use of rags and cotton to produce paper and this was truly a novelty. When the Declaration of Independence was penned, Benjamin Franklin was known to use recycled paper for printing his letters and documents. Once the United States gained independence from the British, the state of Massachusetts passed a low that all the towns and cities in the state had to have a person responsible for picking up rags and taking them to the paper mills.
The Chinese were responsible for inventing papermaking, which was going on in that country since 105. However, the credit for paper recycling goes to Japan where waste paper was first used in the year 1031 to make new paper. This recycled paper was then sold at paper shops.
However, it was in the 19th century when paper recycling technology improved and became more advance. Matthais Koops, a mill owner in England, was responsible for getting a patent for a technique that could take out ink from paper before the actual recycling process. This gentleman was quite innovative and tried using straw and different fibers to make paper. However, Koops mill was closed down in 1803, after he went bankrupt. Nonetheless, his research was instrumental in paving way for papermaking by making use of wood pulp.
The US got its first recycling center in the year 1897, when the Benedetto family started collecting rags, paper trash and old newspapers in a pushcart in New York City. The family today runs a state-of-the art paper recycling company in Chesapeake, Virginia. It is quite possible that the Benedetto family got this idea of collecting newspaper and rags from the collectors that used to roam the streets in Victorian era in Britain. These collectors used to call out to residents to give them their reusable items. In the same year, the city also saw the establishment of a sorting station that used to sort out trash and paper, so that it could be recycled. And, in the year 1895, for the first time ever a waste management system was started in New York City by Col. George Waring, who was the city's street cleaning commission. This system ensured that the different types of trash had to be segregated before they were collected by the municipality collects. Some of the trash that could be reused was sold off to make money for the municipality.
When the Second World War broke out, the United States started looking for ways to recycle paper. During this period the Waste Reclamation Service was established by the federal government and this service ensured that all the paper mills across the country recycled not just newspaper, but also paper documents and books.
Today, paper recycling is a business that many companies are into in the United States. Unfortunately, these paper mills are facing stiff competition from global paper manufacturers and this is causing the price of paper to rise in the country. It means that the country will have to do something about this, if it does not want the paper mills to close down. Also, ways have to be found to reduce contamination of a paper which typically occurs when waste paper is kept with other recyclable items and goods.
More Articles :
eHow: The History of Paper Recycling
http://www.ehow.com/about_5332230_history-paper-recycling.html
FCGovernment.com: The History Of Paper and Recycling
http://www.fcgov.com/recycling/pdf/history-papermaking.pdf
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