Colored paper: do intense colors affect paper recyclability?
Fedrigoni aims to have 100% of its special paper families verified for recyclability by 2030, using the Aticelca 501/19 method, one of the most rigorous and in line with current regulations (UNI EN 13430:2005 and Directive 94/62/EC on packaging and packaging waste).
If a paper product falls into one of the four recyclability classes (A+, A, B, C), it means that it can be collected and recycled in paper mills, and the company is authorized to use the “Recyclable with paper – Aticelca® 501” mark for commercial purposes.
Although more intense colors may result in a loss of quality (for example, moving the classification from an A+ level to an A level if switching from a light color to a more intense one), the influence of color is never such as to make the paper non-recyclable. For example, recycling different and deep-colored papers leads to the creation of gray recycled papers, with optical non-uniformity, which can be used for limited applications. At Fedrigoni, we recover our colored paper waste through a color flow (from white to black) to maximize optical uniformity.
The Group’s commitment is to offer a wide range of colored pulp papers, created for luxury printing and packaging, ensuring:
- The absence of absorbable organic halides (AOX): no AOX is generated or added through chemical additives and/or raw materials, and the wastewater is therefore free of them.
- Control of the chemical oxygen demand (COD) of the wastewater resulting from the production of colored papers. In other words, we guarantee the amount of oxygen needed for the complete chemical oxidation of organic and inorganic substances in a water sample. To do this, at Fedrigoni we apply the best available techniques, physical-mechanical and biological treatment plants, which ensure COD levels significantly lower than existing legislation.
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