Office print-outs in the production of recycled food packaging paper

Abstract

The possibility of using recovered office paper grades as alternative raw material in the manufacture of white top plies of food packaging linerboards is a major area of investigation. Three different types of office print-outs had been submitted to a chemical deinking flotation and the handsheets formed after each deinking flotation trial were analyzed on the presence of residual chemical contaminants: heavy metals (Cd, Pb, Hg), primary aromatic amines, phthalates, diisopropylnaphthalenes (DIPN) and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCB). Moreover, bleed fastness of fluorescent whitened agents (FWA) was determined as well. The conducted research showed that of all analyzed contaminants in the deinked pulp handsheets, only phthalates were detected, in concentrations from 5.3 up to 12.5 mg/kg of paper. However, according to present toxicological assessments, these amounts of detected phthalates do not impose a health risk to the consumers. Research thus demonstrated that all tested papers regarding the analyses done within this study are proved suitable to be used in direct contact with food. Copyright © (2012) by Danube Adria Association for Automation and Manufacturing (DAAAM).