Q: What kind of paper should go in the mixed paper bin?
A: Mixed paper is our catch-all category for paper. If the paper tears and does not fit into any of the other paper categories, it should be placed in the mixed paper bin. Please do not place any food-contaminated paper or paper with plastic wrap.

Q: Why don't we have to sort the paper into so many categories at the Stanford Recycling Drop Off Center?
A: In May of 2005, we reduced the number of paper categories, but not the kind of paper we accept. All paper can go into the mixed paper bin, except corrguated cardboard that has its own bin. Magazines and newspapers can either go into the seperate bins or it can be placed in the mixed paper bins. We have seperate bins for magazines and newspapers so we can encourgae reuse of these materials.

As markets and the value of waste paper have improved over time, we are able to sell paper without having to sort it into the various categories. The material may still be sorted at the broker's facility or at the paper mill depending on how they plan to use. We have just made it easier to recycle the paper by reducing the number of categories the paper has to be sorted into.

In general, the different kinds of paper have different characteristics and value. White paper and newspaper are made from different kinds of wood fibers. Newspaper is considered an inferior fiber in terms of strength compared to white paper, a thicker, longer and more durable fiber. Paper mills buy different valued paper depending on what they are making. Most paper product have several layers of paper. If they want the top sheet to be white and the bottom gray, they would use white paper for the top, newspaper for the bottom and mixed paper as the filler, since it is cheaper to buy. If they wanted a brown bottom, they would use corrugated cardboard. Magazines have a clay content, therefore it cannot be used in the same way as the other papers. Each category has a different value and intended use.

Q: I often see people taking magazines out of the recycling bins at the Stanford Recycling Drop-Off Center. Is this okay?
A: We do not mind if people would like to reuse magazines, as long as they do not climb inside or on the bin and they recycle them once they are done.

Q: What should be done with semi-glossy advertisement inserts in the newspaper?
A: Since newspaper and mixed paper can be recycled together in the same bin, there is no need to seperate them.

Q: How do I recycle cardboard?
A: Corrugated cardboard is the material that has a thin wavy material in between the two outside layers. Once you have identified corrugated cardboard, completely empty the box. Plastic packaging material such as styrofoam cannot be recycled in the recycling program and is considered a contaminant. Flatten the box and place it in one of the green cardboard dumpsters located next to one of the garbage dumpsters on campus outside of most buildings. If it is a small piece of cardboard, you can also put it in one of the mixed paper recycling bins on campus. In the residential area, flatten the box and place it next to your curbside bins. Flattening the box saves space in our collection truck, allowing us to be more efficient on the route.

Q: What should I do with cereal boxes and gift boxes?
A: Cereal boxes and gift boxes are generally made of a lower valued paper called paperboard. Empty the box completely, including food, plastic inserts, or packaging material, flatten, and place in the mixed paper bin.

Q: Can catalogs be recycled?
A: Catalogs can be recycled in the mixed paper bin.

Q: We just received our new phone books. What should we do with the old ones?
A: Phones books can be placed in the mixed paper bin.

Q: Can books be recycled? I tried to sell my books back, but they didn't take them all.
A: You could try to donate your books to a used bookstore. If that fails, then yes, we can recycle your hard and soft backed books in the mixed paper bin.

Q: Can I recycle old photographs and negatives?
A: No, currently we cannot recycle these materials.

Q: Can aseptic containers be recycled?
A: We are now accepting aseptic containers including juice and milk cartons and soy milk containers along with other glass, aluminum, and plastic container in the bottles and cans bin.

Aseptic containers also known a drink boxes hold primarily beverages such as milk, fruit juice and wine. These containers are made of high quality paper and polyethylene. Some of the drink boxes have a small percentage of aluminum.

Once collected, aseptic boxes are hydropulped to separate paper fibers from plastic and aluminum foil. Mills value the fiber recovered from aseptic packaging because of its strength, length, and brightness. Depending on the markets, the plastic/foil residual can also be recycled into high-end plastic lumber products.
Source: Aseptic Packaging Council www.aseptic.org.

Q: Why can't pizza boxes be recycled?
A: Pizza boxes are made from corrugated cardboard, however the cardboard becomes soiled with grease, cheese, and other foods once the pizza has been placed in the box. Once soiled, the paper cannot be recycled because the paper fibers will not be able to be separated from the oils during the pulping process. Food is a major source of contamination in the various paper categories.

Q: What should I do with slightly used paper towels, paper plates, paper napkins, or paper cups?
A: Although these items are paper, they should be placed in the garbage. Often times these items are soiled with food or other contaminant. Many paper products have a thin plastic lining to give strength to the product and prevent leaking. This plastic lining is consider a contaminant in the pulping process. Please throw paper plates, napkins, and cups in the garbage.

Q: Can I recycle my bows, ribbons, wrapping paper, and boxes?
A: Bows and ribbons are not recyclable, but they are certainly reusable if care is taken when they are removed from packages. Save bows in cardboard boxes for presents throughout the year. Gift wrapping, tissue paper, paperboard boxes, and corrugated cardboard boxes are recyclable in your mixed paper bin. Better yet, use reusable holiday gift bags or purchase cloth bags that can be used year after year. Look for recycled content in your gift wrap too! Instead of purchasing gift boxes, reuse shoe or other boxes around the house for gifts. Flatten gift boxes that you received for easy storage for the next use.

Q: What can I do with old greeting cards?
A: You can use old greeting cards to make new gift tags. Once the holidays are over, go through your greeting cards and cut out pretty pictures or textures from the cards and save them in a box for next year. You can also donate old greeting cards of any type for reuse projects to Resource Area for Teachers (RAFT) in San Jose (408-451-1420). In addition, you can recycle them along with your mixed paper.

Q:I am concerned about identity theft. Where can I take personal papers to be destroyed?
A: PSSI offers confidential material destruction for paper products for the Stanford community. Call our office at 321-4236 for pricing.

Q: How do I reduce my junk mail?
A: We all know that recycling junk mail is good, but reducing it is better. Reducing junk mail gets clutter out of your mailbox, frees up your time, and helps protects the environment. It takes 17 trees to make a ton of paper. That means nearly 100 million trees get used for junk mail every year in the U.S. Let's keep the trees in the forest, and get the junk mail out of your life.

Individuals and businesses will find the newly designed web-based Stop Junk Mail Kit from the Bay Area Recycling Outreach Coalition to be very helpful in reducing junk mail. It focuses on easy ways to reduce commercial access to your name and address so this information won’t be traded, rented, or sold to companies who send unwanted mail. There is also many helpful links to related issues and programs. http://StopJunkMail.org

In addition, the Santa Clara County Recycling Hotline’s webpage has a junk mail reduction kit and instructions on how to reduce junk mail. It explains what works and what does not work, and how to stay off mailing lists. Check it out at http://www.recyclestuff.org/JunkMail.asp.

Now there is a tool for businesses to use to reduce undeliverable mail to former or relocated employees. By joining the Ecological Mail Coalition’s free service, businesses can reduce millions of catalogs, flyers, magazines and other promotional mail pieces that are sent to former employees every week. http://ecologicalmail.org/

Q: What are the key benefits to recycling paper?
A: Paper recycling reduce the need for raw material, uses less energy than producing a new product with virgin material, and paper is widely recyclable. Paper makes up approximately 38% of the U.S. solid waste. Did you know: It can take up to a half a million trees to produce our Sunday newspapers each week!

Q: How do you know what paper can be recycled and what paper can't be recycled?
A: Paper Recycling 101
There are a wide varieties of paper grades. For anyone not familiar, I highly recommend going to the institute for Scrap Recycling Industries website (isri.org) and looking for the PSI paper specifications.

In any of those paper grades/mixes, there are 3 categories of things:
Acceptable materials - the things the mill wants
Prohibitive materials - the things they absolutely don't want, that will hurt the process (like glass in the paper)
Outthrows - this is the stuff they don't want, but can accept in small quantities without hurting the process too badly. Think of them as semi-acceptable contaminants. Outthrows is the category that causes the most confusion and includes most of the "grey area" materials that we have been discussing.

In low-grade residential mixed papers (which are junky quality and mostly being made into low quality products like cereal boxes, paper towel tubes, and egg cartons), they have a higher percentage of allowed outthrows, as much as 5-10% for many mills.

In higher grade office papers, including mixed office papers - a grade that many schools are actually producing, is used to make higher quality papers and as such has a much lower percentage of allowed outthrows, typically 1% or less.

The problem with outthrows is how people describe them. Some municipalities, haulers, and even institutions who are only trying to keep stuff out of the trash try to play the percentages and refer to these items as recyclable (hoping they will not get so much as to exceed their allowed limits). They are not really recyclable. They are semi-acceptable contaminants - things that in small quantities won't hurt the end result.

Further adding to the confusion is mill desperation when there is competition, especially from China. When China is buying strongly, as they have been recently, domestic mills start to get desperate for fiber and are willing to accept a slightly dirtier mix than they normally would. Thus they do not make a big deal about outthrows, in some cases even referring to them as recyclable. Then, when China slows their buying, there is a glut of paper in the market, the mills are not desperate for fiber and they say those materials are not acceptable. This happened most dramatically in 1997, when after the paper boom of 1995 and 1996, China stopped buying and a lot of programs, haulers, and brokers who promoted outthrows as recyclable, suddenly found themselves with a LOT of paper they could not sell. As such, either a lot of paper went into the trash or a lot of programs & companies lost a LOT of money (many strong programs and vendors from 1994 and 1995 are no longer with us today as a result).

What I always tell people about outthrows is to NOT promote them as recyclable. If you get them, especially when the market is hot, it is no big deal and it saves you some sorting. But at least by not promoting them as recyclable, you will generally not exceed your allowable % of outthrows.

If you care about RECYCLING, you need to provide a product to manufacturers that they can cost-effectively use as an input to make into new consumer products.

Thanks to Roger Guzowski, Five College Recycling Manager for articulating this process (11-8-07).