Impact of shredding degree on papermaking potential of recycled waste

The properties of paper products depend on the structure of the cellulose fibres therein. Although fibre properties in virgin pulps can be modified by a refining process, this is more difficult in pulp from recovered fibre, particularly waste from office shredders that tend to shorten fibres during shredding. The shorter fibres in shredded paper make it difficult to easily reconstitute them into high-quality paper products. Moreover, because of high energy usage during the recycling process and transportation inefficiencies, there is a need to determine how to responsibly shred paper to alleviate this environmental burden. With this in mind, the influence of initial fibre length on the tensile properties of paper was investigated. Changes in initial fibre length significantly influenced many pulp and paper properties. It was found that cutting the paper into pieces with an area less than 25 mm(2) caused significant changes in the important morphological parameters of the fibres and a sharp decrease in the tensile properties of the reconstituted paper.