Paper recycling is the process of recovering waste paper and then remaking it into new paper products. There are three categories of paper that can be effectively used as feed stocks for making recycled paper.

The first is mill broke, followed by pre-consumer waste, and then post-consumer waste. Mill broke is paper trimmings and other paper scrap leftover from the manufacturing of paper, and is recycled internally in a paper mill.

Pre-consumer waste is material that was discarded prior to consumer use. And post-consumer waste is material discarded after consumer use, such as OM (old magazines), OTD (old telephone directories), and RMP (residential mixed paper). Any paper that is suitable for recycling is referred to as scrap paper.

Over 90% of paper pulp is made from wood, holding paper production accountable for around 35% of felled trees. Recycling of newsprint saves around 1 ton of wood while recycling 1 ton of printing paper saves a little more than 2 tons of wood.

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