My work appeared at the "Walking with Giants" Exhibition at the Boomer Gallery from the 5th of May 2023 to the 10th May 2023! I am very happy to have exhibited there at their group exhibition and I am now in their exhibition catalogue as well!

This year has been good for me as an artist, I have had an exhibition, numerous sales, been published in two magazines and I am going to be having another exhibition very soon somewhere else (more details coming soon!). I am hoping to be able to continue this good amount of luck in the art world and I look forward to collaborating with other artists on works if anyone is interested (I have a collaborative project coming up soon as well with another artist!).

I will be soon announcing two exhibition's I will be a part of (and one which I will be helping in the curation of!).

Many thanks to everyone who has supported me in this journey!

Image from the Boomer Gallery, courtesy of them.

So, there was some leftover canvas bits that I had to cut up since they weren’t able to be fit or stretched into their own canvas boards. Therefore, I had decided to add them into my paper making mix- so to add it to the pulp. I usually like adding things to the pulp to see how the paper turns out; it’s mostly been comfortable things like fabric but next time I promise it’ll be something plastic.

The paper pulp helps to lock in the fabric into it so it doesn’t fall off- sometimes if the bond is not strong enough it will, however, fall off. Don’t worry- you can use that for another paper mix. Once you add them to the mixture you can use your deckle like normal- sponge the excess water off then wait until it’s dried; weigh it down and then finally use the paper in whatever you want! I suggest using it in art, since it really adds good texture. Oh, and I have a pulp making video coming very soon! So make sure you subscribe or follow me to find when it gets released really soon!

This literature review aims to explore the research question; “What are the benefits to recycling paper both industrially and within non-industrial circumstances and as such is there any detriments to recycling paper?”. Pivnenko et al. explores the chemicals in paper and recycled papers (Pivnenko et al., 2015, p.135). It compiles a table totalling chemicals used in certain paper productions and national industries while the paper is also a literature review highlighting sources important in the carcinogenicity and toxicity of chemicals used in certain paper processing (and inclusive of recycled paper processing as well).

In exploring the losses of strength, durability, and quality in paper during the recycling project; Nazhad’s thesis that when recycling paper the tensile strength is at a loss due to the loss of the fines (Nazhad, 1994, p.67-68). Another paper of note by Peretz et al. backs this up as it explores that paper waste has been recycled multiple times and “through the recycling process, the fibres are shortened by mechanical erosion” (Peretz et al., 2021, p. 1599). Bouchard and Douek (1994) have explored that the flexibility decreases when recycling paper alongside the strength in that there are changes in the surface properties of the pulp during the recycling process which causes these changes to happen (Bouchard, Douek, 1994, p.131). However, this is only if the paper has been processed in certain ways; most notably via mechanical means- the study also explores how there is no evidence for lignin degradation as the concentration remains constant (Bouchard, Douek, 1994, p.135).

However, Nazhad’s paper also mentions the extreme benefits to recycling paper in reducing landfill sizes in which 35 million tonnes of paper recycled had amounted to the reduction of a landfill that hypothetically be the size of 14.3 square kilometres and to the depth of 4 metres (Nazhad, 1994, p.1). Therefore, despite the losses of quality in paper – in which is the cost of reducing landfill sizes would be a greater turnout rather than causing pollution to the environment via land use for garbage disposal.

Nonetheless, Peretz explains that recycling paper in the industrial context has still caused the filling of landfills as recycled paper sludge that has too short paper fibres being disposed in landfills which have caused landfilling, greenhouse gas emissions and the contamination of groundwater (Peretz et al., 2021, p.1600). Moreover, Laurijssen’s study explores how recycling paper saves around 1 t CO2/t paper than without recycling (Laurijssen et al., 2010, pp. 1214). In relation to the health detriments that recycling paper can cause, Vukoje’s paper states that the chemicals from the inks in the recycled paper can cause health problems or safety issues (Vukoje, 2018, p. 516). However, this can be countered through enzymatic deinking which uses cellulases and hemicellusases to remove the ink (Vukoje, 2018). Along with a lot of paper that can be recycled is often filled with fillers like calcium carbonate and kaolin (Vukoje, 2018, p. 521).

According to Virtanen and Nilsson’s study if the printing process had different chemicals, it would be a good source of clean energy (Virtanen, Nilsson, 1992, p. 11). From this it shows that the chemicals used in ink could be a causation for bad health if burnt up- which could purport that making recycled paper in a home environment may not be safe to do. The paper also goes through how the societal idea of recycling equals better in the relation to paper and the idea of its benefits to the environment in that recycling (in a presumably, industrial scale) leads to more SO2 emissions (Virtanen, Nilsson, 1992, p.31).

Conclusion

In conclusion, this literature review highlights important studies in the idea of the benefits to recycling paper while also arguing the dangers (inclusive of chemical usage and chemical recycling). It has been shown through multiple studies that the strength, flexibility, and quality of the paper diminishes when recycling- especially over multiple cycles if processed in certain ways. However, the benefit of reducing landfill size (not fully eliminating this due to the recycled paper sludge being landfilled) and general reduction of pollution could out way the negative quality detriments.

In the idea of how recycling in the home; the chemicals could be dangerous if the material being recycled is or has been printed on prior. Along with actual environmental dangers to recycling paper- this literature review gives a well rounded look at studies both looking at the benefits and the detriments.

Bibliography

Pivnenko, Kostyantyn, Eriksson, Eva, Astrup, Thomas F. (2015) ‘Waste paper for recycling: Overview and identification of potentially critical substances’ in Waste management, Vol. 45, pp. 134 – 142 Nazhad, Mousa M. (1994) Fundamentals of strength loss in recycled paper, University of British Columbia Library, Vancouver, pp. 1 – 154

Peretz, Roi, Mamane, Hadas, Wissotzky, Eli, Sterenzon, Elizaveta, Gerchman, Yoram (2021) ‘Making cardboard and paper recycling more sustainable: Recycled paper sludge for energy production and water-treatment applications’ in Waste and Biomass Valorization, Vol. 12, pp. 1599 – 1608

Bouchard, J., Douek, M. (1994) ‘The effects of recycling on the chemical properties of pulps’ in Journal of pulp and paper science, Vol. 25, No. 5, pp. 131 – 136

Laurijssen, Jobien, Marsidi, Marc, Westenbroek, Annita, Worrell, Ernst, Faaij, Andre (2010) ‘Paper and biomass for energy?: The impact of paper recycling on energy and CO2 emissions’ in Resources, Conservation and Recycling, Vol. 54, No. 12, pp. 1208 – 1218

Vukoje, Marina, Rožić, Mirela (2018) ‘Various valorisation routes of paper intended for recycling a review’ in Cellul. Chem. Technol, Vol. 57, No. 7 – 8, pp. 515 – 541

Virtanen, Yrjö, Nilsson, Sten (1992) Some environmental policy implications of recycling paper products in Western Europe, pp. 1 - 39

This time, I decided to see how it would go if you added cotton lumen strips and pieces to paper pulp and created paper from it. Since this paper is not de-inked or bleached it is good for the environment, so I suggest more people do these experiments to use up wastepaper and cardboard. So, after using the deckle and sponging the liquid out of it we are left with an interesting texture that could be used for artwork, in fact, if you check out my Saatchi Art in the description you can find really nice works made from these papers incorporated via collage.

Anyway, once it dries – the cotton doesn’t really fall off the paper, so I call it a successful experiment. If you’re here to find out how to do paper pulping, etc. I have a video soon coming so make sure to subscribe to not miss it out.