Recycled Papers |
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The demand for recycled paper is on the rise and more and more paper manufacturers are producing recycled paper in the same categories and range of choices as virgin stock. However, because of the variations and inconsistencies in the raw materials used, paper that contains recycled fiber tends to he at the middle to lower quality levels of each paper grade.
Here are a few points to consider when choosing a recycled paper:
The full range of whites and colors is available for recycled papers, although the whites may look somewhat dirty. In addition color matches from batch to batch and grade to grade are slightly less dependable than with virgin stock. Recycled paper is also not as bright as virgin paper, partly because it's difficult to bleach out all the ink and dye.
Recycled paper tends to be coarser than virgin stock, and as a result has slightly worse ink holdout and higher dot gain. If you're using halftones, you should specify screen rulings one step lower than for comparable virgin stock.
Prices are somewhat higher for recycled paper because of the cost of recovering used paper and reducing it to clean pulp.
If recycling is important to you, look for paper with the highest possible percentage of post-consumer waste. Don't just settle for stock that meets EPA guidelines. Focus on total weight, not total sheets or printed products. If newsletters require 5,000 pounds of paper per year and brochures only 1,000 pounds, getting newsletters onto recycled paper helps the environment 400 percent more than brochures.