How many times can paper be recycled?

How many times can paper be recycled?

• I have been wondering for a long time... won't it like wear out eventually or something like that?

• Answer:

  around 5-7 times. Paper Recycling How do paper recyclers take the ink out of paper? During the paper recycling process, ink is removed from paper in a process called deinking (de-inking). After the recovered paper is chopped up (or pulped), and mixed with water to make a pulp slurry, it is put through a series of washing and/or flotation deinking processes in which water and/or soap-like chemicals called surfactants remove the ink from the paper. What happens to the ink that's removed? Along with clay, short fibers, and other materials removed during the deinking process, ink that is removed from recycled pulp can be burned to generate energy to run the mill, or sold to make such useful materials as compost or gravel for roads. How many times can a piece of paper be recycled? A single piece of paper may contain new fibers as well as fibers which have already been recycled once, twice, or several times. Papermaking fibers can typically be recycled 5-7 times before they become too short to be recycled again.