Paper recycling is a major issue in Australia, and it’s getting more and more expensive.
The recycling industry is in crisis.
We spoke to the industry’s biggest players and asked if they thought paper was recyclible.
The answer is, they don’t.
They say they’re not sure.
How can we be sure?
Read moreRead more: Paper is recycled from a number of different sources, including from cardboard boxes and recycled plastic bags, but the most common way to get it back to landfill is to burn it.
In the UK, this process is known as “paper-burn”.
“It’s a pretty expensive process, it takes a long time, and you’re basically cutting up a piece of paper and burning it,” says Mark Lai, an associate professor at the University of Melbourne.
“It just doesn’t make sense to throw that paper away.”
A study published in Nature found that burning paper led to an increase in emissions from the paper industry in the UK.
According to Lai’s team, burning paper increased greenhouse gas emissions by up to 7.5 per cent over the same period, and there was also a 40 per cent increase in landfill-related CO2 emissions.
Lai is also a member of a team that has been investigating the environmental impacts of burning paper for the past five years.
They recently published a report that suggests that burning is the most efficient way to remove paper from the landfill.
They found that the cost of burning wood, and other fossil fuels, was $1.80 per square metre, compared to $1 per square metres for burning paper.
But the process of burning a paper shredder in a landfill is expensive, and can be prohibitively time-consuming.
Liao says the biggest issue with paper recycling is that paper is so difficult to recycle.
“I think that the only way to recycle paper is by burning it.
I think that’s a really expensive process,” he says.
The process of paper-burn is a bit of a myth in Australia.
The paper industry is the world’s largest paper recycler, but Lai says the process isn’t very efficient.
He believes paper is being burned to keep costs down.
“In Australia we’ve got a pretty high carbon footprint,” he explains.
“The whole paper industry does an awful lot of landfill and paper waste.”
According to the Paper Waste Management Association (PWMMA), the waste from paper is one of the most polluting sources of greenhouse gas.
In Australia, the paper that is recycled accounts for between 25 and 30 per cent of the country’s emissions.
It is also one of Australia’s most pollute sources of water.
PWMMA spokesperson, Rachel Stowe, said that while there was a “hugely expensive process” to recycle, paper was still one of “the best and cheapest options”.
She said the industry was “encouraged” to be working towards a paper-recycling plan that would be sustainable, and would “reduce landfill and pollution”.
But that’s not to say it’s not expensive to burn paper.
The cost of paper burning varies depending on the size of the shredder, and how much of the paper is removed.
Lih said the cost to burn a shredder can be as high as $1,000.
“There are a lot of options available, so it’s definitely not as simple as just burning a piece and getting it back,” he said.
Liai agrees that burning the paper was expensive, but he thinks paper recycling will still be a good option for Australia if it is implemented properly.
“We are not going to be the first country to go to this, but we are not the only one, so I think this is going to happen in the future,” he explained.
“Paper is so valuable, so we need to make sure we’re making the best use of it.”
Lai believes paper-burning is a viable option to recycle the paper from paper, and that it will be a viable alternative to landfill.
“You don’t have to burn the paper, you don’t even have to throw it away,” he notes.
“If we do this right, we can get a really great price reduction from paper.”