Collection and Sorting

• Paper towels are manufactured in much the same way as all recycled paper products. The first step in paper recycling is to collect the paper. Paper that is to be recycled is collected in businesses and homes and then transported to a paper recycling center. Some municipalities have services in place to pick up paper to be recycled and deliver it to the recycling center. In other places consumers must drop their paper off at the center. Upon arrival at the recycling facility, paper is sorted by type, such as cardboard or newsprint. The paper is then baled and stored until it is ready to be used.
  
  

Pulping and Screening

• When it is time for recycling, the paper bales are placed on a conveyor belt and carried into a large tank full of water and chemicals. In this container the paper is soaked, cut into small pieces and heated until it turns back into pulp. Pulp consists of water and the plant fibers from which the paper was originally made. The pulp is then forced through a series of screens to remove any impurities or contaminants, such as globs of glue or small plastic bits left behind when a paper label is removed from a plastic bottle.
  
  

Cleaning

• After screening, the paper pulp is cleaned in a centrifugal cleaner. This cleaner rapidly spins the pulp, causing any material denser than the paper fibers to be spun to the outside and rejected. This process removes debris small enough to pass through the holes in the screening process, such as staples. After the paper pulp is cleaned it may still contain ink.
  
  

Deinking

• Deinking is often a two-step process. Small ink particles are rinsed away. Larger ink particles are removed using a flotation process. During flotation, the paper pulp is placed in a large container that forces hydrogen through the pulp. This loosens the ink particles and allows them to float to the top of the tank where they can be removed.
  
  

Refining

• After the paper pulp is free of ink it is refined. Refining paper pulp means to knead the pulp until the fibers swell. Kneading also breaks apart any large clumps of fibers that may be stuck together. If the paper is going to be colored, the dye is usually added at this time and white paper is now bleached. Often, paper that is destined to become napkins and paper towels is left its natural brown color.
  
  

Paper Towels

• The recycled paper pulp is ready to be turned back into a paper product once the refinement process is complete. The recycled paper products are made in the same manner as new paper products, except that the recycled pulp is used rather than new wood pulp. Pulp is sent through a quickly moving machine that presses it into thin sheets and adds resin to the pulp to make the paper towels stronger when wet. The water is removed from the paper and it is dried, causing the pulp fibers to adhere to each other and thus form paper. Two layers of the paper are bonded together with air pockets between them so they will absorb moisture. The completed sheets of paper are then perforated and rolled onto cardboard tubes.