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[Display omitted] • Chemical profiling of different paper grades was performed along the recycling chain. • Untargeted analysis of semi-volatiles and non-volatiles using GC- and LC-MS. • Chemometrics application to identify specific features by paper grade and site. • Exploration of the possible sources of detected compounds in the paper recycling chain. • Numerous chemical compounds associated with plastics have been detected. Paper packaging made with recycled paperboard is used to pack various consumer goods that can include amongst others, electronics, toys, food, cosmetics, and stationery. Chemical profiling of the various paper recycling grades used in the manufacture of recycled paperboard was undertaken to investigate possible sources of contaminants and their propagation in the paper recycling chain. Pre-consumer, retail and post-consumer paper-based materials were collected at papermills, corrugators, grocery stores, household waste, solid waste disposal sites and recycling facilities. In the GC-MS analysis, phthalates, long-chain aliphatic compounds, and fatty acids were the most commonly detected compounds whilst phthalates and bisphenols featured most prevalently in the LC-MS analysis. The factors that were identified as likely contributors to the detection of the different chemical compounds included the presence of wood derivatives, the use of certain chemical additives during manufacturing, and exposure of paper to contaminants from consumers, other goods and the environment. Waste mingling, recovery, sorting and reprocessing into recycled paper were also shown to influence the chemical profile of paper materials. Sparse partial least squares-discriminate analysis indicated that newspaper and office paper had unique chemical constituents, whilst cartons were shown to have higher variability. By looking at key stages of paper recycling, this study showed that the possible persistence and transformation of chemical compounds in additives must be evaluated when considering the recyclability of paper-based materials. Further, it highlighted that different separation approaches may be required to reduce contaminant exposure opportunities in post-consumer paper materials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] The recycling of paper and board (PB) yields economic and environmental advantages compared to primary paper production. However, PB from lightweight packaging (LWP) waste is currently not comprehensively reintegrated into the paper value stream. To develop an adapted recycling process for PB from LWP, PB quantities, qualities, and fluctuations ranges in LWP are required. Currently, no sufficient database is available. Therefore, we developed a methodical approach and conducted a case study to access the PB potential in LWP sorting plants using manual analysis and sensor-based material flow monitoring. Differences resulting from seasonal variations, materials from different settlement structures, and fluctuation ranges in LWP composition over two weeks have been investigated. PB contents in the input of 6.5 wt% (ww) and 5.9 wt% (ww) were determined for winter and summer sampling campaigns, respectively. The PB product stream amounted to 5.7 wt% (ww, winter) and 4.8 wt% (ww, summer). Around 45 wt% (ww) of PB from the PB product stream was classified as misplaced by the consumer and should have been discarded in separate paper collections. Based on the determined PB quantities and qualities, a potential of usable and in the PB product stream available PB in LWP was determined. The technically available and usable PB potential in German LWP waste amounts to 89,000 to 100,000 tons per year (average PB yield of around 65 wt% (ww)). The methodical approach can be adapted for sorting plant balances. The results can contribute to developing an adapted recycling process for PB from LWP. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • Sensitivity analysis in packaging EoL modeling to evaluate influence in EoL impacts. • Take-back presents environmental benefits due to paper and glass recycling. • Incineration with energy recovery reduces EoL impacts from pharmaceutical packaging. • Smaller pharmaceutical packaging and EoL valorization reduces impacts. • Decisions at packaging early design stage influence EoL impacts. Pharmaceutical packaging waste has increased due to a higher global demand for pharmaceutical products, leading to more waste generation and associated environmental impacts. The main goal of this article is to present a cradle-to-grave life cycle assessment of pharmaceutical packaging, evaluating end-of-life (EoL) alternatives, aiming to identify hotspots and opportunities for improvement. A life cycle model was implemented for three types of pharmaceutical packaging (blisters, sachets, bottles; 23 packaging). The functional unit is the storage and delivery of medicines containing the same active pharmaceutical ingredient, dosage, and amount of medicines. Two EoL analyses were performed: 1) compare take-back (recycling and incineration) with domestic waste collection (landfill or incineration); and 2) assess different EoL situations of pharmaceutical packaging in Europe. A life cycle impact assessment was performed for 13 categories. Analysis 1 shows that take-back presents lower environmental impacts than domestic waste collection for seven out of 13 categories due to paper and glass recycling benefits. Analysis 2 shows that in the take-back, higher amounts of packaging are recycled or incinerated, which leads to lower EoL impacts. A sensitivity analysis was performed to evaluate the influence of parameters and assumptions in packaging EoL impacts. Packaging production contributes significantly to life cycle impacts, followed by transportation, EoL, and packing process. Ecodesign initiatives are recommended, such as packaging with less material and volume, using materials with lower impacts to significantly reduce the impacts of pharmaceutical packaging. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • Recycling of jarosite residues by a one-step hydrothermal method was proposed. • Transformation process included jarosite pyrolysis and hematite crystal formation. • Entrained valuable metal resource dissolved into aqueous solution for recycling. • Hematite product met requirements of raw material for ironmaking after roasting. • Hematite product possessed superior characteristics of iron oxide red pigment. Jarosite [MeFe 3 (SO 4) 2 (OH) 6 ] is a typical non-ferrous smelting slag produced in the process of iron removal from hydrometallurgical solution, which contains a large number of valuable and toxic metal elements. Treating the complex and hazardous jarosite residue in an economically and environmentally sound way has always been an urgent problem. A novel one-step hydrothermal treatment method was proposed in this paper for recycling of jarosite residues. It can be seen from the XRD and TEM results that jarosite residues could be completely transformed into hematite crystal particles under hydrothermal conditions at temperature above 220℃. Meanwhile, other valuable metal components (such as nickel sulfate hexahydrate) entrained in the residue will be dissolved in the aqueous solution, which can be reused in the hydrometallurgical process. Through phase composition analysis of the hydrothermal process, it is concluded that jarosite was firstly pyrolyzed to generate Fe3+. The obtained Fe3+ was then hydrolyzed to Fe (OH) 3 , which was transformed into Fe 2 O 3 through dehydration condensation and directional arrangement. Further roasting the hematite particles, the obtained product contained 62.57 % of Fe, but only 0.21 % of S and 0.04 % of As, which meets the requirements of raw materials for iron making. In addition, compared with the current international standard ISO 1248:2006 (E), the obtained hematite particles with nanometer size and single crystal structure can be used as iron oxide red pigment. Overall, the one-step hydrothermal treatment of jarosite residues followed by reduction roasting not only realizes the economic recycling of the metal resources, but also solves the stacking problem of those hazardous residues. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • Wood waste collected at mechanical treatment plant in various periods of the year. • Organosolv treatment to produce a cellulose pulp for manufacturing containerboard. • Results show good reproducibility of the organosolv process applied to wood waste. • Obtained a pulp with an average cellulose content of about 76%. Wood waste is a valuable material that could constitute an abundant and inexpensive source for the production of new materials the recovery of energy. In Europe, about 46% of wood waste is recycled to particleboard and fiberboard, while the other fraction is incinerated. However, a considerable quantity of wood waste shows potential for its transformation into value-added products due to its compositional quality. In this work, wood waste collected at a mechanical treatment plant underwent organosolv treatment to produce a cellulose pulp suitable for manufacturing containerboard. Three variables (temperature, acid concentration, and ethanol concentration) were investigated to find an optimal solution to produce wood pulp by means of Design of Experiment. Wood waste was microwave-heated at 160 °C for 15 min using an acidified ethanol–water solution (2% w/w H 2 SO 4 and 0.8 w/w ethanol concentration), producing pulp with an average cellulose content of 76% where 93% of initial cellulose was retained. Thanks to a one-pot approach, ethanol was totally recovered, 62% of initial lignin was precipitated, and 20 g/l of hemicellulose-derived sugars solution was obtained. Finally, three wood waste samples collected in different periods of the year yielded comparable outcomes, suggesting a good reproducibility of the organosolv process. ANOVA test with a significance level of 0.01 showed a p-value of 0.029 and 0.235 for cellulose content and cellulose recovery, respectively. This study paves the way for an industrial symbiosis between recycling centers and paper mills located in the same territory. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • Semi-automated generation of regionalized paper recycling life-cycle inventories. • National impacts on climate change of recycling three paper grades in 191 countries. • Life-cycle assessment case study of Quebec's mixed wastepaper recycling system. Recycling is a commonly acknowledged strategy to reduce the environmental impacts linked to primary resource exploitation. Large regional variations can be observed in recycling processes' parameters, like efficiency, energy mix and treatment of rejects. Life-cycle assessment (LCA) is widely used to evaluate the environmental impacts of recycling processes, but existing studies are neither harmonized nor sufficient to provide a comprehensive geographical and technological coverage of recycling processes. The purpose of this research is to develop an efficient and iterative approach for the parametrized generation of semi-automated regionalized life-cycle inventories that take into account technological and geographical variabilities in the recycling sector. The regionalization framework is then applied to create a parametrized paper recycling regionalization tool. This tool is used in the results section to compare the national climate change impacts of recycling three paper grades. Results show a significant global warming impact variability between countries for recycled graphic paper (0.36 to 2.25 kg CO 2 -Eq/kg wastepaper recycled), newsprint (0.27 to 1.84 kg CO 2 -Eq/kg wastepaper recycled) and corrugated cardboard (0.28 to 1.68 kg CO 2 -Eq/kg wastepaper recycled) productions. A regionalized LCA of the international recycling of the mixed wastepaper exported from Quebec's (Canada) sorting centers is also performed with the tool and compared to the non-regionalized mixed wastepaper recycling process available in the ecoinvent database. Only nine midpoint ReCiPe impact categories remain environmentally advantageous compared to virgin paper production when applying the regionalization methodology, compared to sixteen when using the ecoinvent process, illustrating how regionalization can substantially influence LCA results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Methodology to automatically generate geo-located waste container maps. • Use of Computer Vision algorithms to detect waste containers. • Automatic division into locations with and without containers in city maps. • Robust model with consistent performance disregarding the container type. • System evaluated in eleven Spanish cities with an average accuracy of 89%. This paper describes the scientific achievements of a collaboration between a research group and the waste management division of a company. While these results might be the basis for several practical or commercial developments, we here focus on a novel scientific contribution: a methodology to automatically generate geo-located waste container maps. It is based on the use of Computer Vision algorithms to detect waste containers and identify their geographic location and dimensions. Algorithms analyze a video sequence and provide an automatic discrimination between images with and without containers. More precisely, two state-of-the-art object detectors based on deep learning techniques have been selected for testing, according to their performance and to their adaptability to an on-board real-time environment: EfficientDet and YOLOv5. Experimental results indicate that the proposed visual model for waste container detection is able to effectively operate with consistent performance disregarding the container type (organic waste, plastic, glass and paper recycling,...) and the city layout, which has been assessed by evaluating it on eleven different Spanish cities that vary in terms of size, climate, urban layout and containers' appearance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • Particulate matter (PM) emitted from waste sorting plant (WSP) were studied. • Health risks to plant workers regarding exposure to PM were quantified. • The ratio of indoor PM to outdoor PM (I/O PM) ranged from 0.8 to 46.3. • LTCRs for PM via inhalation exposure route ranged from 3.41 × 10−6 to 9.43 × 10−5. • Exposure to PM 2.5 and PM 10 in the WSP lead to possible risk. Solid waste components can be recycled in waste paper and cardboard sorting plants (WPCSP) through a multistep process. This work collected 15 samples every six days from each of the 9 points selected to study the processes taking place in a WPCSP (135 particulate matter samples total). Examining the concentration and size fraction of particulate matter (i.e., PM 1 , PM 2.5 and PM 10) in WPCSP is an essential issue to notify policy makers about the health impacts on exposed workers. The major activities for increasing of the concentration of PM in various processing units in the WPCSP, especially in hand-picking routes I and II were related to manual dismantling, mechanical grinding, mechanical agitation, and separation and movement of waste. The results of this work showed that a negative correlation between temperature and particulate matter size followed the order PM 10 > PM 2.5 > PM 1. Exposure to PM 2.5 and PM 10 in the WPCSP lead to possible risk (HI = 5.561 and LTCRs = 3.41 × 10−6 to 9.43 × 10−5 for PM 2.5 and HI = 7.454 for PM 10). The exposure duration and the previous concentrations had the most effect on the ILCRs and HQs for PM 2.5 and PM 10 in all sampling sites. Hence, because WPCSP are infected indoor environments (I/O ratio > 1), the use of control methods such as isolation of units, misting systems, blower systems equipped with bag houses, protective equipment, a mechanical ventilation system, and additional natural ventilation can reduce the amount of suspended PM, enhance worker safety, and increase the recycling rate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • Cone angle had great influence on plastic separation. • The recovery of particles with wide size distribution was studied. • The discrepancy of settlements of PET/PVC were significant. • The optimum cone angle and L/D were obtained. The cone angle of a hydrocyclone is believed to be an important parameter to affect the separation performance. For the recycling of waste plastics, this paper focused on the study of the influence of cone angles on the separation of light dispersed plastics (PET) and heavy dispersed plastics (PVC) by experiments and numerical simulations. The cone angle was changed from 3° to 28° either at given length of the cylindrical section or at fixed total length of the hydrocyclone. The separation performance varied with cone angles at given length of the cylindrical section more greatly than that at fixed total length of the hydrocyclone. Results show that particles with different sizes in mixture exhibited discrepant separation behaviors at various cone angles. There was an optimum cone angle at which the Newton efficiency peaked as 90.2%, while the purity of PET could also reach the highest. The proportion of cylindrical section could be properly small for the enhancement of Newton efficiency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• A single pulsed discharge enabled peeling of cathode particles from Al foil. • As a recycling technology, a pulsed discharge could reduce life cycle impacts. • Recovery of cathode particles reduced LC-GHG and resource consumption. • Life cycle assessment results changed due to a shift in battery chemistry. This series of papers addresses the recycling of cathode particles and aluminum (Al) foil from positive electrode sheet (PE sheet) dismantled from spent lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) by applying a high-voltage pulsed discharge. As concluded in Part I of the series (Tokoro et al., 2021), cathode particles and Al foil were separated in water based on a single pulsed power application. This separation of LIB components by pulsed discharge was examined by means of prospective life cycle assessment and is expected to have applications in LIB reuse and recycling. The indicators selected were life cycle greenhouse gas (LC-GHG) emissions and life cycle resource consumption potential (LC-RCP). We first completed supplementary experiments to collect redundant data under several scale-up circumstances, and then attempted to quantify the uncertainties from scaling up and progress made in battery technology. When the batch scale of pulsed discharge separation is sufficiently large, the recovery of cathode particles and Al foil from PE sheet by pulsed discharge can reduce both LC-GHG and LC-RCP, in contrast to conventional recycling with roasting processes. Due to technology developments in LIB cathodes, the reuse of positive electrode active materials (PEAM) does not always have lower environmental impacts than the recycling of the raw materials of PEAM in the manufacturing of new LIB cathodes. This study achieved a proof of concept for resource consumption reduction induced by cathode utilization, considering LC-GHG and LC-RCP, by applying high-voltage pulsed discharge separation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Evolutionary game theory is used to study the dynamic behaviors in WEEE recycling. • Fund Relief Policy can motivate the producers' green innovation behavior. • Fund Relief Policy can to some extent alleviate the government financial pressure. In an effort to regulate waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) recycling, the Chinese government has issued China-WEEE regulations and a fund policy. In accordance with the 2012 fund policy, the government collects funds from producers and subsidizes recycling enterprises. However, this policy has encountered difficulties. The 2016 White Paper on WEEE Recycling, Treatment and Reuse states that while the funds collected from producers were 2.61 billion Yuan, the subsidies provided to recycling enterprises were 4.714 billion Yuan, which is a gap of 2.104 billion Yuan. In addition, this policy did not incentivize producers to invest in WEEE recycling. Our paper aims to answering the following questions: (1) What is the impact of the current WEEE processing fund policy? (2) How can producers' green innovation in WEEE recycling be promoted? We use evolutionary game theory to investigate the strategies used by producers and recyclers and explore their evolutionary behaviors under two policies: the 2012 fund policy (the current policy) and the Fund Relief Policy (a newly designed policy). The results indicate that the Fund Relief Policy can motivate producers' green innovation behavior, improve the profitability of recyclers, and alleviate the financial pressure on government to a certain extent. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A range of energy fuels (ethanol, char, oil/wax and gas) was produced from fibre waste contaminated with plastic through the application of a fermentation-pyrolysis route. The fibre component was first converted to ethanol by simultaneous saccharification and fermentation (SSF), achieving an ethanol concentration of 39.8 g/L. The residue, enriched in lignin and plastics, was subjected to fast pyrolysis at temperatures between 350 and 550 °C. A wax product with a higher heating value (HHV) higher than 28 MJ/kg was obtained for temperatures higher than 450 °C, while values lower than 15 MJ/kg were observed for the oils produced from the untreated waste stream. Pyrolysis at 550 °C produced a wax with an HHV as high as 32.1 MJ/kg, where 51.8% of the energy content of the fermentation residue was transferred. The attractive energy contents of the pyrolysis products were enabled by oxygen removal from the feedstock during fermentation to ethanol. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• All three discussed recycling types are profitable under current policy measures. • Chicken manure is more cost-effective for composting. • Pig manure is more cost-effective for energy recycling. • Without FITs, biogas power generation of livestock manure is not profitable. • RDF of rice straw is the most cost-effective. Agricultural waste can be recycled in different ways. Cost-effectiveness is important information for investment decision-making of enterprises and policy-making of government to choose a profitable way to recycle agricultural waste. Therefore, this paper aims to present a cost-benefit analysis to assess and compare the cost-effectiveness between feasible recycling methods, and further propose cost-effective ways for recycling agricultural waste in Taiwan. Three recycling types of agricultural wastes, namely, composting, biogas power generation and biomass fuel are selected for cost-benefit analysis based on related regulations and policy supports of agricultural waste management in Taiwan. Primary data collected by sampling surveys conducted in 2018 supplemented by secondary data from national statistics are used for this study. Study results show that all three recycling types of agricultural wastes discussed in this study are profitable under corresponding economic conditions in 2018 with benefit/cost ratio greater than 1 and positive net present value; as expected, the cost-effectiveness of agricultural waste recycling varies depending on the recycling types, composition of input materials, and economic scales. Mixing chicken manure with other agricultural wastes for composting and using rice straw to make biomass fuel rods are estimated to have higher cost-effectiveness; livestock farms with small farming scale have relatively low biogas energy recovery efficiency; the cost-effectiveness of biogas power generation highly depends on fixed-in tariffs (FITs). Results imply that policy support for establishing co-processing centers of agricultural waste and differentiated FITs would be good measures to stimulate recycling efficiency of agricultural waste in Taiwan. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Index of recycling sustainability for assessing waste paper recycling. • Integrating methodology of GIS and value chain model. • Historical changes of informal recyclables distribution sites in Beijing. • Value chain of waste paper recycling in Beijing may face challenges in the future. • Policy implications to improve waste paper recycling in Beijing. China established a self-organized and market-driven recycling system, which was dominated by the informal sectors. In recent years, the amount of domestically-recycled waste paper grew slower than expectation in China, which may be resulted from a decline in economic sustainability of current recycling system. For understanding the waste paper recycling system in most cities in China, the economic mechanism remains unclear and the city-level data is extremely insufficient. In this work, an index of recycling sustainability (IRS, benefit divided by cost) is analyzed with a resolution of 1 km2 grid in Beijing City, by adopting value chain and GIS methodology. Five degrees of IRS are defined, from high-degree (IRS > 1.10) to low-degree (IRS < 0.95). Different stakeholders in the informal waste paper recycling system were interviewed to fill the data gap. Results show that: (1) from 2015 to 2018, the informal recycling of waste paper accounted for approximate 80% in Beijing; (2) the number of informal recyclables distribution sites decreased from 27 to 11, and their average distance to the city-center rose from 27.5 km to 40.9 km; (3) in 2015 and 2018, the grids with high-degree IRS accounted for 99.5% and 89.2%, respectively, indicating a sustainable waste paper recycling industry in Beijing; and (4) according to the scenario analysis, if the operating cost rises by 30%, the grids with low-degree IRS accounts for 98.5%, indicating a nontrivial challenges when the recycling cost keeps increasing in the future. Policy recommendations are put forward for a more sustainable paper waste recycling system in China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• This paper examined the relations between three managerial factors and multi-family dwelling recycling • Significant association was found between housing type and MFD recycling • No significant association was found between recycling mode and MFD recycling. • There was a significant association between initiative of property manager and MFD recycling. Solid waste is an acute environmental problem in most big cities around the world. Like other highly compact cities, Hong Kong developed a recycling program that primarily targets multi-family dwellings (MFDs). This paper intends to examine the relations between three managerial factors—housing type, recycling mode, and initiative of the property manager—and MFD recycling using data collected from a territory-wide telephone survey (n = 1,016) conducted in 2017. The results indicated that housing type and initiative of the property manager had significant relations with the recycling behavior of residents. The findings may supplement previous recycling studies and provide a reference for the improved implementation of the MFD recycling program in Hong Kong. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the anaerobic digestion of lignocellulosic materials such as waste paper, the accessibility of microorganisms to the fermentable sugars is restricted by their complex structure. A mechanical pretreatment with a Hollander beater was assessed in order to reduce the biomass particle size and to increase the feedstock’ specific surface area available to the microorganisms, and therefore improve the biogas yield. Pretreatment of paper waste for 60 min improves the methane yield by 21%, from a value of 210 ml/gVS corresponding to untreated paper waste to 254 ml/gVS. 30 min pretreatment have no significant effect on the methane yield. A response surface methodology was used to evaluate the effect of the beating time and feedstock/inoculum ratio on the methane yield. An optimum methane yield of 253 ml/gVS was achieved at 55 min of beating pretreatment and a F/I ratio of 0.3. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For paper and paperboard packaging, recyclability plays an important role in conserving the resources and reducing the environmental impacts. Therefore, when it comes to the nano-enabled paper packaging material, the recyclability issue should be properly addressed. This study represents our first report on the fate of nanomaterials in paper recycling process. The packaging material of concern is a PLA (Polylactic Acid) coated paper incorporating zinc oxide nanoparticles in the coating layer. The material was characterised and assessed in a lab-scale paper recycling line. The recyclability test was based on a method adapted from ATICELCA MC501-13, which enabled to recover over 99% of the solids material. The mass balance result indicates that 86–91% zinc oxide nanoparticles ended up in the rejected material stream, mostly embedded within the polymer coating; whereas 7–16% nanoparticles ended up in the accepted material stream. Besides, the tensile strength of the recycled handsheets suggests that the nano-enabled coating had no negative impacts on the recovered fibre quality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A global, comprehensive review of terms and definitions related to paper recycling was conducted in this article. Terms and definitions related to paper recycling have varied in the course of time. Different terms and different definitions for the same thing are being used in different geographical regions and by different organizations. Definitions are different based on varying conceptions of waste paper as a raw material . Definitions of how to make various calculations related to paper recycling activity are inconsistent. Even such fundamental basic definitions like how to calculate recycling rate and paper consumption are not uniform. It could be concluded that there is no uniform system of terms and definitions related to paper recycling and the implications of this deficiency are profound. For example, it is difficult to reliably compare with each other statistics from different times and from different geographical regions. It is not possible to measure if targets for recycling activities are met if the terms describing the targets are not uniformly defined. In cases of reporting data for recycling targets, the lack of uniform terminology can, for example, impede the necessary transparency between different stakeholders and may allow for deception. The authors conclude there is a pressing need to develop a uniform system of terms and definition for terms related to paper recycling . [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Paper product manufacturing involves a variety of chemicals used either directly in paper and pulp production or in the conversion processes (i.e. printing, gluing) that follow. Due to economic and environmental initiatives, paper recycling rates continue to rise. In Europe, recycling has increased by nearly 20% within the last decade or so, reaching a level of almost 72% in 2012. With increasing recycling rates, lower quality paper fractions may be included. This may potentially lead to accumulation or un-intended spreading of chemical substances contained in paper, e.g. by introducing chemicals contained in waste paper into the recycling loop. This study provides an overview of chemicals potentially present in paper and applies a sequential hazard screening procedure based on the intrinsic hazard, physical–chemical and biodegradability characteristics of the substances. Based on the results, 51 substances were identified as potentially critical (selected mineral oils, phthalates, phenols, parabens, as well as other groups of chemicals) in relation to paper recycling. It is recommended that these substances receive more attention in waste paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this paper is to analyse the effects of the presence of printed electronics on the paper waste streams and specifically on paper recyclability. The analysis is based on a case study focussed on envelopes for postal and courier services provided with these intelligent systems. The smart printed envelope of the study includes a combination of both conventional (thin flexible batteries and resistors) and printed electronic components (conductive track layout based on nanosilver ink). For this purpose, a comparison between envelopes with and without these components (batteries, resistors and conductive track layouts) was carried out through pilot scale paper recycling tests. The generation of rejects during the recycling process as well as the final quality of the recycled paper (mechanical and optical properties) were tested and quantitatively evaluated. The results show that resistors are retained during the screening process in the sieves and consequently they cannot end up in the final screened pulp. Therefore, mechanical and optical properties of the recycled paper are not affected. Nevertheless, inks from the conductive track layouts and batteries were partially dissolved in the process water. These substances were not totally retained in the sieving systems resulting in slight changes in the optical properties of the final recycled paper (variations are 7.2–7.5% in brightness, 8.5–10.7% in whiteness, 1.2–2.2% in L ∗ values, 3.3–3.5% in opacity and 16.1–27% in yellowness). These variations are not in ranges able to cause problems in current paper recycling processes and restrict the use of recycled paper in current applications. Moreover, real impacts on industrial recycling are expected to be even significantly lower since the proportion of paper product with printed circuits in the current paper waste streams are much lower than the ones tested in this work. However, it should be underlined the fact that this situation may change over the next years due to the future developments in printed electronics and the gradual penetration of these types of devices in the market. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Whilst the education of young people is often seen as a part of the solution to current environmental problems seeking urgent attention, it is often forgotten that their parents and other household members can also be educated/influenced via home-based educational activities. This paper explores the theory of intergenerational influence in relation to school based waste education. Waste Watch, a UK-based environmental charity (www.wastewatch.org.uk), has pioneered a model that uses practical activities and whole school involvement to promote school based action on waste. This methodology has been adopted nationally. This paper outlines and evaluates how effective school based waste education is in promoting action at a household level. The paper outlines Waste Watch’s ‘Taking Home Action on Waste (THAW)’ project carried out for two and half years in Rotherham, a town in South Yorkshire, England. The project worked with 6705 primary age children in 39 schools (44% of primary schools in the project area) to enable them to take the “reduce, reuse and recycle message” home to their families and to engage these (i.e. families) in sustainable waste management practices. As well as substantial increases in students’ knowledge and understanding of waste reduction, measurement of the impact of the project in areas around 12 carefully chosen sample schools showed evidence of increased participation in recycling and recycling tonnages as well as declining levels of residual waste. Following delivery of the project in these areas, an average increase of 8.6% was recorded in recycling set out rates which led to a 4.3% increase in paper recycling tonnages and an 8.7% increase in tonnages of cans, glass and textiles collected for recycling. Correspondingly, there was a 4.5% fall in tonnages of residual waste. Waste Watch’s THAW project was the first serious attempt to measure the intergenerational influence of an education programme on behaviour at home (i.e. other than schools’ own waste). It clearly shows that household recycling behaviour can be positively impacted by intergenerational influence via a practical school-based waste education model. However, although the model could potentially have a big impact if rolled out nationally, it will require seed funding and the long-term durability of the model has not yet been fully quantified. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: The recovery and utilization of recovered paper have increased over past decades all over the world due to economic, environmental, and social issues. However, it is well known that an extended recovered paper collection is detrimental to its quality, either by the exploitation of lower quality sources such as households, or the spreading of commingled systems instead of selective collection systems. The influence of these two factors was assessed by analyzing the quality of different recovered paper grades used as raw material in a mill located in Madrid (Spain) producing newsprint and light weight coated paper from recovered paper. Part 1 of the paper deals with the impact of increased collection rates on the quality of recovered paper and Part 2 with the use of commingled collection systems. Results of Part 1 show that increased collection rates have a large impact on the quality of the recovered paper. The quality, measured as total unusable material and moisture contents, had deteriorated very rapidly in only 4years (2005–2008) as a consequence of increased collection rates. Collection rates increased in Spain from 58.5% to 68.6% during this period, resulting in more than 50% increase of total unusable material and 25% of moisture content. The downgrading of the quality of recovered paper is one of the major threats for extending the current limits of paper recycling. Therefore, future challenge is to increase its availability but maintaining its quality. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Recycling of paper and glass from household waste is an integrated part of waste management in Denmark, however, increased recycling is a legislative target. The questions are: how much more can the recycling rate be increased through improvements of collection schemes when organisational and technical limitations are respected, and what will the environmental and economic consequences be? This was investigated in a case study of a municipal waste management system. Five scenarios with alternative collection systems for recyclables (paper, glass, metal and plastic packaging) were assessed by means of a life cycle assessment and an assessment of the municipality’s costs. Kerbside collection would provide the highest recycling rate, 31% compared to 25% in the baseline scenario, but bring schemes with drop-off containers would also be a reasonable solution. Collection of recyclables at recycling centres was not recommendable because the recycling rate would decrease to 20%. In general, the results showed that enhancing recycling and avoiding incineration was recommendable because the environmental performance was improved in several impact categories. The municipal costs for collection and treatment of waste were reduced with increasing recycling, mainly because the high cost for incineration was avoided. However, solutions for mitigation of air pollution caused by increased collection and transport should be sought. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: The results of assays carried out on plates used in the construction industry, manufactured entirely with solid wastes of a recycled paper plant, are presented and compared with the results obtained using agglomerated wood and plywood plates. Previous results had shown that wastes are composed essentially of polymers when these wastes are generated by recycled paper produced with the “waved type II” shavings. These solid wastes were placed in a mold that was heated and pressed with a hydraulic press in order to obtain the plates. The waste-produced plates were submitted to tests for humidity, swelling, water absorption, density, modulus of rupture-static bending, modulus of elasticity and direct screw withdrawal. These same assays had been carried out on two types of commercial wood plates, agglomerated wood and plywood, in order to compare the results with those obtained with the waste plate. Waste plates had similar behavior to the agglomerated wood plate, but it was possible to distinguish greater flexibility in the waste-produced plate and a significant difference in the tests for swelling and water absorption which showed the waste plate had a better performance than the agglomerated wood and plywood plates. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

This article deals with a methodology for the design of routes for the “bin to bin” (BTB) collection of paper and cardboard waste (PCB) from small businesses, as well as with the new location and calculation of the number of containers needed in the streets for both commercial and non-commercial use due to the large amount of PCB deposited in them. This study was carried out in five shopping areas of the city of Leganés (Community of Madrid, Spain). One of the characteristics of the area is a high density of population and urban traffic. The tool used is the Geographical Information System (GIS-Arc-View). With it we can generate PCB points of high population density in commercial streets based on territorial analysis. We placed the special routes and the new container locations within a distance of 60m of these collection points (CPT). The system calculates and optimizes six routes according to different urban restrictions. Finally, we provided service to 59% of the shops, which generate almost 82% of the PCB waste, using 160min per day to collect 1027kg of high quality PCB. If we compare the system with the system in place previously, we can conclude that the “bin to bin” (BTB) system improves the quality of the PCB in the containers, avoiding overflow and reducing the percentage of rejected material. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]