"Does ‘Made With Recycled Paper’ Include TOILET PAPER?" Topic

Specially the stuff people choose to put into the bathroom waste basket instead of flushing it (and which probably should have been flushed). And then there are always those people who apparently never flush toilet paper.

If so, how is that disinfected exactly?

NOTE: I'm looking at the unbleached (brownish) recycled paper soft drink tray and napkins that my wife brought home with our lunch from one of her favorite "organic" restaurants …

Will the answer end up in the News of the Weird?

Dan
PS. I've been wondering about this for a long time, but was afraid to ask (afraid of what the answer might be).

Knowing the paper making process, I doubt anything could live through it. Generally Re-Cycled paper just means that waste papers was used in part to make the pulp so fewer "new" tress are used.

TP usually goes the way of other solid waste in the water treatment process. One of the advantages of where I live is that we "use the water first" what we use ends up in New Orleans after "many" uses

LOL. I wonder what a few tests on the brown paper tray would reveal.

Dan
PS. Remember that my question is about paper that never gets flushed, but probably should have been. Paper that gets put with all other trash and goes to the "dump".

Remember that my question is about paper that never gets flushed, but probably should have been. Paper that gets put with all other trash and goes to the "dump".

It stays in the dump, as simple as that. Recycled paper means things like newspaper, print magazines, corrugated cardboard, etc. not used kleenex, t.p, etc.

FYI:
link

"The mixture is then heated to further break down the paper fibers." From what I recall this heat is fairly hot and hot enough to kill most bacteria.

I'm more interested about the materials (like paper stuff) that are being taken FROM the regular dump, to be recycled …

link

Dan
PS. Not related, but interesting:
link

"LOL. I wonder what a few tests on the brown paper tray would reveal."

Have you tried the taste method?

Reminds me of the old joke:

Q: What is the difference between an Oral and a Rectal Thermometer?

A: The taste!

LOL. I would have thought it was the smell.

Dan

LOL. I would have thought it was the smell.

Obviously you have not been near a paper mill…

"I'm more interested about the materials (like paper stuff) that are being taken FROM the regular dump, to be recycled …"

In my state (PA), the recyclables are sorted out by the residential customer or the business customer BEFORE anything is picked up. Therefore, recyclables (office paper, newspaper, soda/beer cans, soup/veggie cans, plastic bottles, etc.) are sorted out before anything is picked up by the hauler.

The actual garbage is then bagged by the customer and kept separate from the recyclables and placed into separate containers for pick up. We have one container dedicated just for trash and one container dedicated just for recyclables. The garbage is taken to the land fill and buried. The recyclables go to a separate processing facility.

Also, note that in our state, the brown pressed-paper soft drink tray you mentioned in the OP is not recyclable. Like the similar pressed paper egg carton, they are put out in the garbage.

What Saber6 said ! My maternal grandfather was a manager
at a papermill in Plymouth, NC. I lived with that set
of grandparents during WWII and for a while thereafter.
I can still recall the aroma from the mill ('stench'
would not be too strong a word !)

But that was new paper not recycled.

Poopee-Paper…

Good fer wipin'…

Good fer smokin'…

And a real tactile "treat"!!!

Zoneofcontrol

So where does the content of the bathroom trash bin end up? With the stuff destined for the dump* or do so send it off directly to the recycling facility?

Dan
* Which might still get sorted and recycled at a later date, depending on the place, as the article above stated.

Where I live, the contents of the bathroom trash can ends up in the landfill. Recyclables are kept totally separate.

While you're stressing over this, you might want to check out the "filth in food" regs. Hint: Those grain elevators have more in them than just grain….

Dan-
As with Charlie 12's post, the contents get put in the garbage. It would then end up buried at the local landfill. Only items specifically put into a recycling container would go someplace for processing to get used over again.

There are rules about recycling material being reasonably clean. Certain take-out food and drink containers are recyclable. However, they have to be rinsed to remove as much food particles as possible. Similarly, restroom paper towels and such would be considered as too soiled for recycling. I believe that to be as much for health and sanitary reasons during storage and transport as it would be for "purity" in the recycling process itself.

I worked for a small company and one of my duties was to fill out a yearly report with our county government on our trash and recycling output.

Here in SW Michigan only the waste put in the recycle bin is recycled, the rest goes to the landfill where it breaks down to produce gas that is used to run the facility.

Here in SW Michigan only the waste put in the recycle bin is recycled, the rest goes to the landfill where it breaks down to produce gas that is used to run the facility.

That's about the same here in Canada (Ontario). Remember, both waste streams involve recycling. The biodegrading of waste is just recycling of the materials to simpler usable components. Kudos to Michigan for employing the methane gas as a fuel.

Dan-
I saw this article about eating poop just this morning and immediately thought of you. Err, umm… sorry. Let me rephrase that. I thought of this thread, not you!

"Astronauts could soon be eating 'Vegemite-like' food made from human waste"

link

methane gas…in Eastern NC, there are large hog farms;
the waste of them is captured in lagoons. The lagoons
are tented with tough plastic, allowing the methane from
the hogs' waste to be captured and used.

Max: Bull*

Aunt Entity: no pig*

Zoneofcontrol

Yikes! I guess being an astronaut isn't what it used to be. LOL.

Dan

"Astronauts could soon be eating 'Vegemite-like' food made from human waste"

Gives new meaning to 'you are what you eat'…

Soylent green might be next it's recycling isn't it 🤔🙄

Zoneofcontrol, that's technically food made from something that eats human waste, though there are ways to reclaim protein from ordure directly

Given how NASA gave up on blue-green algae based foods ( For the same reason that power bar comany did – LOTS of vomiting customers), Dan, I think its still looking up for astronauts . . . . ;)

Covert, that is a bit of necromancy there. Alas, Dan hasn't been a member of TMP for almost a year now.