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Home > Books > Environmental Management in Practice

The Effects of Paper Recycling and its Environmental Impact

Submitted: 24 November 2010 Published: 05 July 2011

DOI: 10.5772/23110

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Environmental Management in Practice

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Author Information

Iveta čabalová *.

• Technical University in Zvolen,Faculty of Wood Sciences and Technology, Slovakia

František Kačík

Anton geffert *, danica kačíková *.

*Address all correspondence to:

1. Introduction

It is well known the paper production (likewise the other brands of industry) has enormous effects on the environment. The using and processing of raw materials has a variety of negative effects on the environment.

At the other hand there are technologies which can moderate the negative impacts on the environment and they also have a positive economical effect. One of these processes is the recycling, which is not only the next use of the wastes. The main benefit of the recycling is a double decrease of the environment loading, known as an environmental impact reducing. From the first view point, the natural resources conserves at side of the manufacturing process inputs, from the second view point, the harmful compounds amount leaking to the environment decreases at side of the manufacturing process outputs.

The paper production from the recycled fibers consumes less energy; conserves the natural resources viz. wood and decreases the environmental pollution. The conflict between economic optimization and environmental protection has received wide attention in recent research programs for waste management system planning. This has also resulted in a set of new waste management goals in reverse logistics system planning. Pati et al. (2008 ) have proposed a mixed integer goal programming (MIGP) model to capture the inter-relationships among the paper recycling network system. Use of this model can bring indirectly benefit to the environment as well as improve the quality of waste paper reaching the recycling unit.

In 2005, the total production of paper in Europe was 99.3 million tonnes which generated 11 million tonnes of waste, representing about 11% in relation to the total paper production. The production of recycled paper, during the same period, was 47.3 million tonnes generating 7.7 million tonnes of solid waste (about 70% of total generated waste in papermaking) which represents 16% of the total production from this raw material ( CEPI 2006 ).

The consumption of recovered paper has been in continuous growth during the past decades. According to the Confederation of European Paper Industries (CEPI), the use of recovered paper was almost even with the use of virgin fiber in 2005. This development has been boosted by technological progress and the good price competitiveness of recycled fiber, but also by environmental awareness – at both the producer and consumer ends – and regulation that has influenced the demand for recovered paper. The European paper industry suffered a very difficult year in 2009 during which the industry encountered more down-time and capacity closures as a result of the weakened global economy. Recovered paper utilisation in Europe decreased in 2009, but exports of recovered paper to countries outside CEPI continued to rise, especially to Asian markets (96.3%). However, recycling rate expressed as “volume of paper recycling/volume of paper consumption” resulted in a record high 72.2% recycling rate after having reached 66.7% the year before ( Fig. 1 ) ( Hujala et al. 2010 ;CEPI 2006; European Declaration on Paper Recycling 2010; Huhtala& Samakovlis 2002 ; CEPI Annual Statistic 2010).

European paper recycling 1995-2009 in million tonnes (European Declaration on Paper Recycling 2006 – 2010, Monitoring Report 2009 (2010) (www.erpa.info)

Recycling is not a new technology. It has become a commercial proposition since Matthias Koops established the Neckinger mill, in 1826, which produced white paper from printed waste paper. However, there were very few investigations into the effect of recycling on sheet properties until late 1960's. From then until the late 1970's, a considerable amount of work was carried out to identify the effects of recycling on pulp properties and the cause of these effects ( Nazhad 2005 ; Nazhad& Paszner 1994 ). In the late 1980's and early 1990's, recycling issues have emerged stronger than before due to the higher cost of landfills in developed countries and an evolution in human awareness. The findings of the early 70's on recycling effects have since been confirmed, although attempts to trace the cause of these effects are still not resolved ( Howard &Bichard 1992 ).

Recycling has been thought to reduce the fibre swelling capability, and thus the flexibility of fibres. The restricted swelling of recycled fibres has been ascribed to hornification, which has been introduced as a main cause of poor quality of recycled paper ( Scallan&Tydeman 1992 ). Since 1950's, fibre flexibility among the papermakers has been recognized as a main source of paper strength. Therefore, it is not surprising to see that, for over half a century, papermakers have supported and rationalized hornification as a main source of tensile loss due to drying, even though it has never been fully understood ( Sutjipto et al. 2008 ).

Recycled paper has been increasingly produced in various grades in the paper industry. However, there are still technical problems including reduction in mechanical strength for recycled paper. Especially, chemical pulp-origin paper, that is, fine paperrequires a certain level of strength. Howard & Bichard (1992 ) reported that beaten bleachedkraft pulp produced handsheets which were bulky and weak in tensile and burst strengthsby handsheet recycling. This behaviour could be explained by the reduction in re-swelling capability or the reduction in flexibility of rewetted pulp fibers due to fiber hornification and, possibly, by fines loss during recycling processes, which decrease both total bondingarea and the strength of paper ( Howard 1995 ; Nazhad&Paszner 1994 ; Nazhad et al. 1995 ; Khantayanuwong et al.2002 ; Kim et al. 2000 ).

Paper recycling is increasingly important for the sustainable development of the paper industry as an environmentally friendly sound. The research related to paper recycling is therefore increasingly crucial for the need of the industry. Even though there are a number of researches ascertained the effect of recycling treatment on properties of softwood pulp fibres ( Cao et al. 1999 ; Horn 1975 ; Howard&Bichard 1992 ; Jang et al. 1995 ), however, it is likely that hardwood pulp fibres have rarely been used in the research operated with recycling treatment. Changes in some morphological properties of hardwood pulp fibres, such as curl, kink, and length of fibre, due to recycling effects also have not been determined considerably. This is possibly because most of the researches were conducted in the countries where softwood pulp fibres are commercial extensively ( Khantayanuwong 2003 ). Therefore, it is the purpose of the present research to crucially determine the effect of recycling treatment on some important properties of softwood pulp fibres.

2. Alterations of pulp fibres properties at recycling

The goal of a recycled paper or board manufacturer is to make a product that meets customers΄ specification and requirements. At the present utilization rate, using recycled fibres in commodity grades such as newsprint and packaging paper and board has not caused noticeable deterioration in product quality and performance ( Čabalová et al. 2009 ). The expected increase in recovery rates of used paper products will require a considerable consumption increase of recycled fibres in higher quality grades such as office paper and magazine paper. To promote expanded use of recovered paper, understanding the fundamental nature of recycled fibres and the differences from virgin fibres is necessary.

Essentially, recycled fibres are contaminated, used fibres. Recycled pulp quality is, therefore, directly affected by the history of the fibres, i.e. by the origins, processes and treatments which these fibres have experienced.

McKinney (1995) classified the history into five periods:

fibre furnish and pulp history

paper making process history

printing and converting history

consumer and collection history

recycling process history.

To identity changes in fibre properties, many recycling studies have occurred at laboratory. Realistically repeating all the stages ofthe recycling chain is difficult especially when including printing and deinking. Some insight into changes in fibre structure, cell wall properties, and bonding ability is possible from investigations using various recycling procedures, testing methods, and furnishes.

Mechanical pulp is chemically and physically different from chemical pulp then recycling effect on those furnishes is also different. When chemical fibres undergo repeated drying and rewetting, they are hornified and can significantly lose their originally high bonding potential ( Somwand et al. 2002 ; Song & Law 2010 ; Kato & Cameron 1999 ; Bouchard & Douek 1994 ; Khantayanuwong et al. 2002 ; Zanuttini et al. 2007 ; da Silva et al. 2007 ). The degree of hornification can be measured by water retention value (WRW) ( Kim et al. 2000 ). In contrast to the chemical pulps, originally weakermechanical pulps do not deteriorate but somewhat even improve bonding potential during a corresponding treatment. Several studies( Maloney et al. 1998 ; Weise 1998 ; Ackerman et al. 2000 ) have shown good recyclability of mechanical fibres.

Adámková a Milichovský (2002 ) present the dependence of beating degree ( SR –Schopper-Riegler degree) and WRV from the relative length of hardwood and softwood pulps. From their results we can see the WRV increase in dependence on the pulp length alteration is more rapid at hardwood pulp, but finally this value is higher at softwood pulps. Kim et al. (2000 ) determined the WRV decrease at softwood pulps with the higher number of recycling (at zero recycling about cca 1.5 g/g at fifth recycling about cca 1.1 g/g).Utilisation of the secondary fibres to furnish at paper production decrease of the initial need of woody raw (less of cutting tress) but the paper quality is not significantly worse.

2.1. Paper recycling

The primary raw material for the paper production is pulps fibres obtaining by a complicated chemical process from natural materials, mainly from wood. This fibres production is very energy demanding and at the manufacturing process there are used many of the chemical matters which are very problematic from view point of the environment protection. The suitable alternative is obtaining of the pulp fibres from already made paper. This process is far less demanding on energy and chemicals utilisation. The paper recycling, simplified, means the repeated defibring, grinding and drying, when there are altered the mechanical properties of the secondary stock, the chemical properties of fibres, the polymerisation degree of pulp polysaccharidic components, mainly of cellulose, their supramolecular structure, the morphological structure of fibres, range and level of interfibres bonds e.g.. The cause of above mentioned alterations is the fibres ageing at the paper recycling and manufacturing, mainly the drying process.

At the repeat use of the secondary fibres, it need deliberate the paper properties alter due to the fiber deterioration during the recycling, when many alteration are irreversible. The alteration depth depends on the cycle’s number and way to the fibres use. The main problem is the decrease of the secondary pulp mechanical properties with the continuing recycling, mainly the paper strength ( Khantayanuwong et al. 2002 ; Jahan 2003 ; Hubbe & Zhang 2005 ; Garg & Singh 2006 ; Geffertová et al. 2008 ; Sutjipto et al. 2008 ). This decrease is an effect of many alterations, which can but need not arise in the secondary pulp during the recycling process. The recycling causes the hornification of the cell walls that result in the decline of some pulp properties. It is due to the irreversible alterations in the cells structure during the drying ( Oksanen et al. 1997 ; Kim et al. 2000 ; Diniz et al. 2004 ).

The worse properties of the recycled fibres in comparison with the primary fibres can be caused by hornification but also by the decrease of the hydrophilic properties of the fibres surface during the drying due to the redistribution or migration of resin and fat acids to the surface ( Nazhad& Paszner 1994 ; Nazhad 2005 ). Okayama (2002 ) observed the enormous increase of the contact angle with water which is related to the fiber inactivation at the recycling. This process is known as „irreversible hornification“.

Paper recycling saves the natural wood raw stock, decreases the operation and capital costs to paper unit, decrease water consumption and last but not least this paper processing gives rise to the environment preservation (e.g. 1 t of waste paper can replace cca 2.5 m 3 of wood).

A key issue in paper recycling is the impact of energy use in manufacturing.Processing waste paper for paper and board manufacture requires energy that isusually derived from fossil fuels, such as oil and coal. In contrast to the productionof virgin fibre-based chemical pulp, waste paper processing does not yield a thermalsurplus and thus thermal energy must be supplied to dry the paper web. If,however, the waste paper was recovered for energy purposes the need for fossil fuelwould be reduced and this reduction would have a favourable impact on the carbondioxide balance and the greenhouse effect. Moreover, pulp production based onvirgin fibres requires consumption of round wood and causes emissions of air-pollutingcompounds as does the collection of waste paper. For better paper utilization, an interactive model, the Optimal Fibre Flow Model, considersboth a quality (age) and an environmental measure of waste paper recycling was developed ( Byström&Lönnstedt 1997 ).

2.1.1. Influence of beating on pulp fibres

Beating of chemical pulp is an essential step in improving the bonding ability of fibres. The knowledge complete about beating improves the present opinion of the fibres alteration at the beating. The main and extraneous influences of the beating device on pulps were defined.The main influences are these, each of them can be improve by the suitable beating mode, but only one alteration cannot be attained. Known are varieties of simultaneous changes in fibres, such as internal fibrilation, external fibrilation, fiber shortening or cutting, and fines formation ( Page 1989 ; Kang & Paulapuro 2006a ; Kang & Paulapuro 2006c ).

Freeing and disintegration of a cell wall affiliated with strongswelling expressed as an internal fibrilation and delamination. The delamination is a coaxial cleavage in the middle layer of the secondary wall.It causes the increased water penetration to the cell wall and the fibre plasticizing.

External fibrillation and fibrils peeling from surface, which particularly or fully attacks primary wall and outside layers of secondary walls.Simultaneously from the outside layers there arecleavage fibrils, microfibrils, nanofibrils to the macromolecule of cellulose and hemicelluloses.

Fibres shortening in any place in any angle-wise across fibre in accordance with loading, most commonly in weak places.

Concurrently the main effects at the beating also the extraneous effects take place, e.g. fines making, compression along the fibres axis, fibres waving due to the compression. It has low bonding ability and it influences the paper porosity,stocks freeness ( Sinke&Westenbroek 2004 ).

The beating causes the fibres shortening, the external and internal fibrillation affiliated with delamination and the fibres plasticizing. The outside primary wall of the pulp fibre leaks water little, it has usually an intact primary layer and a tendency to prevent from the swelling of the secondary layer of the cell wall. At the beating beginning there are disintegrated the fibre outside layers (P and S1), the fibrilar structure of the fibre secondary layer is uncovering, the water approach is improving, the swelling is taking place and the fibrillation process is beginning. The fibrillation process is finished by the weaking and cleavaging of the bonds between the particular fibrils and microfibrils of cell walls during the mechanical effect and the penetration into the interfibrilar spaces, it means to the amorphous region, there is the main portion of hemicelluloses.

Češek& Milichovský (2005 ) showed that with the increase of pulp beating degree the standard rheosettling velocity of pulp decreases more at the fibres fibrillation than at the fibres shortening.

Refining causes a variety of simultaneous changes in the fiber structure, such as internal fibrillation, external fibrillation and fines formation. Among these effects, swelling is commonly recognized as an important factor affecting the strength of recycled paper ( Kang & Paulapuro 2006d ).

Scallan & Tigerstrom (1991 ) observed the elasticity modulus of the long fibres from kraft pulp during the recycling. Flexibility decrease was evident at the beating degree decrease ( SR), and also with the increase of draining velocity of low-yield pulp.

Alteration of the breaking length of the paper sheet drying at the temperature of 80, 100 a 120°C during eightfold recycling

The selected properties of the pulp fibres and the paper sheets during the process of eightfold recycling at three drying temperatures of 80, 100, 120°C.

From the result on Fig. 2 we can see the increase of the pulp fibres active surface takes place during the beating process, which results in the improve of the bonding and the paper strength after the first beating. It causes also the breaking length increase of the laboratory sheets. The secondary fibres wear by repeated beating, what causes the decrease of strength values ( Table 1 ).

The biggest alterations of tear index ( Fig. 3 ) were observed after fifth recycling at the bleached softwood pulp fibres. The first beating causes the fibrillation of the outside layer of the cell wall, it results in the formation of the mechanical (felting) and the chemical bonds between the fibres. The repeated beating and drying dues, except the continuing fibrillation of the layer, the successive fibrils peeling until the peeling of the primary and outside secondary layer of the cell wall. It discovers the next non-fibriled layer S2 (second, the biggest layer of the secondary wall) what can do the tear index decrease. The next beating causes also this layer fibrillation, which leads to the increase of the strength value ( Fig. 3 , Tab. 1 ).Paper strength properties such as tensile strength and Scott bond strength were strongly influenced by internal fibrillation; these could also be increased further by promoting mostly external fibrillation ( Kang & Paulapuro 2006b ).

The course of the breaking length decrease and the tearing strength increase of the paper sheet is in accordance with the results of Sutjipto et al. (2008 ) at the threefold recycling of the bleached (88% ISO) softwood pulps prepared at the laboratory conditions, beated on PFI mill to 25 SR.

Tear index alteration of the paper sheets drying at the temperature of 80, 100 a 120°C, during eightfold recycling

Song & Law (2010 ) observedkraft pulp oxidation and its influence on recycling characteristics of fibres, the found up the fibre oxidation influences negatively the tear index of paper sheets.Oxidation of virgin fibre prior to recycling minimized the loss of WRV and sheet density.

The beating causes the fibres shortening and fines formation which is washed away in the large extent and it endeds in the paper sludges. This waste can be further processed and effective declined.

Within theEuropean Union several already issued and other foreseendirectives have great influence on the waste managementstrategy of paper producing companies. Due to the large quantities ofwaste generated, the high moisture content of the wasteand the changing composition, some recovery methods,for example, conversion to fuel components, are simplytoo expensive and their environmental impact uncertain.The thermal processes, gasification and pyrolysis, seem tobe interesting emerging options, although it is still necessaryto improve the technologies for sludge application.Other applications, such as the hydrolysis to obtain ethanol,have several advantages (use of wet sludge and applicabletechnology to sludges) but these are not welldeveloped for pulp and paper sludges. Therefore, at thismoment, the minimization of waste generation still hasthe highest priority ( Monte et al. 2009 ).

2.1.2. Drying influence on the recycled fibres

Characteristic differences between recycled fibres and virgin fibres can by expected. Many of these can by attributed to drying. Drying is a process that is accompanied by partially irreversible closure of small pores in the fibre wall, as well as increased resistance to swelling during rewetting. Further differences between virgin and recycled fibres can be attributed to the effects of a wide range of contaminating substances ( Hubbe et al. 2007 ). Drying, which has an anisotropic character, has a big influence on the properties of paper produced from the secondary fibres.During the drying the shear stress are formatted in the interfibrilar bonding area. The stresses formatted in the fibres and between them effect the mechanical properties in the drying paper. The additional effect dues the tensioning of the wet pulp stock on the paper machine.

During the drying and recycling the fibres are destructed. It is important to understand the loss of the bonding strength of the drying chemical fibres. Dang (2007 ) characterized the destruction like a percentage reduction of ability of the water retention value (WRV) in pulp at dewatering.

Hornification = [(WRV 0 -WRV 1 )/WRV 0 ]. 100 [%],

WRV 0 –is value of virgin pup

WRV 1 –the value of recycled pulp after drying and reslushing.

According to the prevailing concept, hornification occurs in the cell wall matrix of chemical fibres. During drying, delaminated parts of the fiber wall, i.e., cellulose microfibrils become attached as Fig. 4 shows ( Ackerman et al. 2000 ).

Changes in fiber wall structure ( Weise &Paulapuro 1996 )

Shrinkage of a fiber cross section ( Ackerman et al. 2000 )

Hydrogen bonds between those lamellae also form. Reorientation and better alignment of microfibrils also occur. All this causes an intensely bonded structure. In a subsequent reslushing in water, the fiber cell wall microstructure remains more resistant to delaminating forces because some hydrogen bonds do not reopen. The entire fiber is stiffer and more brittle ( Howard 1991 ). According to some studies ( Bouchard &Douek 1994 ; Maloney et al. 1998 ), hornification does not increase the crystallinity of cellulose or the degree of order in the hemicelluloses ofthe fiber wall.

The drying model of Scallan ( Laivins&Scallan 1993 ) suggests that hornification prevents the dry structure in A from fully expanding to the wet structure in D. Instead, only partial expansion to B may be possible after initial drying creates hydrogen bonds between the microfibrils( Kato & Cameron 1999 )

Weise & Paulapuro (1996 ) did very revealing work about the events during fiber drying. They studied fiber cross section of kraft fibers in various solids by Confocal Laser Scanning Microscope (CLSM) and simultaneously measured hornification with WRV tests. Irreversible hornification of fibers began on the degree of beating. It does not directly follow shrinkage since the greatest shrinkage of fibers occurs above 80 % solids content. In Figs. 4 and 5 , stage A represented wet kraft fiber before drying. In stage B, the drainage has started tocause morphological changes in the fiber wall matrix at about 30 % solids content. The fiber wall lamellae start to approach each other because of capillary forces. During this stage, the lumen can collapse. With additional drying, spaces between lamellae continue shrinking to phase C where most free voids in the lamellar structure of the cell wall have already closed. Toward the end of drying in stage D, the water removal occurs in the fine structure of the fiber wall. Kraft fiber shrink strongly and uniformly during this final phase of drying, i.e., at solid contents above 75-80 %. The shrinkage of stage D is irreversible.

At a repeated use of the dried fibres in paper making industry, the cell walls receive the water again. Then the opposite processes take place than in the Fig. 4 and 5 . It show Scallan´s model of the drying in Fig. 6 .

The drying dues also macroscopic stress applied on paper and distributed in fibres system according a local structure.

2.1.3. Properties of fibres from recycled paper

The basic properties of origin wet fibres change in the drying process of pulp and they are not fully regenerated in the process of slushing and beating.

The same parameters are suitable for the description of the paper properties of secondary fibres and fibres at ageing as well as for description of primary fibres properties. The experiences obtained at the utilisation of waste paper showed the secondary fibres have very different properties from the origin fibres. Next recycling of fibres causes the formation of extreme nonhomogeneous mixture of various old fibres. At the optimum utilisation of the secondary fibres it need take into account their altered properties at the repeated use. With the increase number of use cycles the fibres change irreversible, perish and alter their properties. Slushing and beating causes water absorption, fibres swelling and a partial regeneration of properties of origin fibres. However the repeated beating and drying at the multiple production cycles dues the gradual decrease of swelling ability, what influences a bonding ability of fibres. With the increase of cycles number the fibres are shortened. These alterations express in paper properties. The decrease of bonding ability and mechanical properties bring the improving of some utility properties. Between them there is higher velocity of dewatering and drying, air permeability and blotting properties improve of light scattering, opacity and paper dimensional stability.

The highest alterations of fibres properties are at the first and following three cycles. The size of strength properties depends on fibres type ( Geffertová et al. 2008 ).

Drying influences fibres length, width, shape factor, kinks which are the important factors to the strength of paper made from recycled fibres. The dimensional characteristics are measured by many methods, known is FQA (Fiber Quality Analyser), which is a prototype IFA (Imaging Fiber Analyser) and also Kajaani FS-200 fibre-length analyser. They measure fibres length, different kinks and their angles. Robertson et al. (1999 ) show correlation between methods FQA and Kajaani FS-200. A relatively new method of fibres width measurement is also SEM (Scanning Electron Microscope) ( Bennis et al. 2010 ). Among devices for analyse of fibres different properties and characteristics, e.g. fibres length and width, fines, various deformations of fibres and percentage composition of pulp mixture is L&W Fiber Tester (Lorentzen & Wettre, Sweden). At every measurement the minimum of 20 000 fibres in a sample is evaluated. On Fig. 7 there is expressed the alteration of fibres average length of softwood pulps during the eightfold recycling at the different drying temperature of pulp fibres.

Influence of recycling number and drying temperature on length of softwood pulps

Influence of recycling number and drying temperature on width of softwood pulps

The biggest alteration were observed after first beating (zero recycling), when the fibres average length decrease at the sheet drying temperature of 80°C about 17%, at the temperature of 100°C about 15.6% and at the temperature of 120°C about 14.6%.

After the first beating the fibres average width was markedly increased at the all temperatures dues to the fibrillation influence. The fibres fibrillation causes the fibre surface increase. Following markedly alteration is observed after fifth recycling, when the fibres average width was decreased. We assume the separation of fibrils and microfibrils from the cell walls dues the separation of the cell walls outside layer, the inside nonfibriled wall S2 was discovered and the fibres average width decreased. After the fifth recycling the strength properties became worse, mainly tear index ( Fig. 3 ).

The softwood fibres are longer than hardwood fibres, they are not so straight. The high value of shape factor means fibres straightness. The biggest alterations of shape factor can be observed mainly at the high drying temperatures. The water molecules occurring on fibres surface quick evaporate at the high temperatures and fibre more shrinks. It can result in the formation of weaker bonds between fibres those surfaces are not enough near. At the beginning of wet paper sheet drying the hydrogen bond creates through water layer on the fibres surface, after the drying through monomolecular layer of water, finally the hydrogen bond results after the water removal and the surfaces approach. It results in destruction of paper and fibre at the drying.

Chemical pulp fines are an important component in papermaking furnish. They can significantly affect the mechanical and optical properties of paper and the drainage properties of pulp ( Retulainen et al. 1993 ). Characterizing the fines will therefore allow a better understanding of the role of fines and better control the papermaking process and the properties of paper. Chemical pulp fines retard dewatering of the pulp suspension due to the high water holding capacity of fines. In the conventional method for characterizing the role of fines in dewatering, a proportion of fines is added to the fiber furnish, and then only the drainage time. Fines suspension is composed of heterogeneous fines particles in water. The suspension exhibits different rheological characteristics depending on the degree of interaction between the fines particles and on their hydration ( Kang & Paulapuro 2006b ).

From Fig. 9 we can see the highest formation of fines were after seventh and eight recycling, when the fibres were markedly weakened by the multiple using at the processes of paper making. They are easier and faster beating (the number of revolution decreased by the higher number of the recycling).

Influence of recycling process and drying temperature on pulp fines changes

The macroscopic level (density, volume, porosity, paper thickness) consists from the physical properties very important for the use of paper and paperboard. They indirectly characterize the three dimensional structure of paper ( Niskanen 1998 ). A paper is a complex structure consisting mainly of a fibre network, filler pigment particles and air. Light is reflected at fibre and pigment surfaces in the surface layer and inside the paper structure. The light also penetrates into the cellulose fibres and pigments, and changes directions. Some light is absorbed, but the remainder passes into the air and is reflected and refracted again by new fibres and pigments. After a number of reflections and refractions, a certain proportion of the light reaches the paper surface again and is then reflected at all possible angles from the surface. We do not perceive all the reflections and refractions (the multiple reflections or refractions) which take place inside the paper structure, but we perceive that the paper has a matt white surface i.e. we perceive a diffuse surface reflection. Some of the incident light exists at the back of the paper as transmitted light, and the remainder has been absorbed by the cellulose and the pigments. Besides reflection, refraction and absorption, there is a fourth effect called diffraction. In other contexts, diffraction is usually the same thing as light scattering, but within the field of paper technology, diffraction is only one aspect of the light scattering phenomenon. Diffraction occurs when the light meets particles or pores which are as large as or smaller then the wavelength of the light, i.e. particles which are smaller than one micrometer (μm). These small elements oscillate with the light oscillation and thus function as sites for new light sources. When the particles or pores are smaller than half of the light wavelength the diffraction decreases. It can be said that the light passes around the particle without being affected ( Pauler 2002 ).

The opacity, brightness, colouring and brilliance are important optical properties of papers and paperboards. For example the high value of opacity is need at the printing papers, but opacity of translucent paper must be lower. The paper producer must understand the physical principles of the paper structure and to determine their characteristics composition. It is possible to characterize nondirect the paper structure. The opacity characterizes the paper ability to hide a text or a figure on the opposite side of the paper sheet. The paper brightness is a paper reflection at a blue light use. The blue light is used because the made fibers have yellowish colour and a human eye senses a blue tone like a white colour.The typical brightness of the printing papers is 70 – 95% and opacity is higher than 90% ( Niskanen 1998 ).

3. Paper ageing

The recycled paper is increasingly used not only for the products of short term consumption (newspaper, sanitary paper, packaging materials e.g.), but also on the production of the higher quality papers, which can serve as a culture heritage medium. The study of the recycled papers alterations in the ageing process is therefore important, but the information in literature are missing.

The recycling is also another form of the paper ageing. It causes the paper alterations, which results in the degradation of their physical and mechanical properties. The recycling causes a chemical, thermal, biological and mechanical destruction, or their combination ( Milichovský 1994 ; Geffertová et al. 2008 ).The effect of the paper ageing is the degradation of cellulose, hemicelluloses and lignin macromolecules, the decrease of low molecular fractions, the degree of polymerisation (DP) decrease, but also the decline of the mechanical and optical properties ( El Ashmawy et al. 1974 ; Valtasaari & Saarela 1975 ; Lauriol et al. 1987a ,b,c; Bansa 2002 ; Havermans 2003 ; Dupont & Mortha 2004 ; Kučerová & Halajová, 2009 ; Čabalová et al. 2011 ).Cellulose as the most abundant natural polymer on the Earth is very important as a renewable organic material. The degradation of cellulosebasedpaper is important especially in archives and museums where ageing in various conditions reduces the mechanical properties and deteriorates optical quality of stored papers, books and other artefacts. The low rate of paper degradation results in the necessity of using accelerating ageing tests. The ageing tests consistin increasing the observed changes of paper properties, usually by using different temperature, humidity, oxygen content and acidity, respectively. Ageing tests are used in studies of degradation rate and mechanism. During the first ageing stages—natural or accelerated—there are no significant variations in mechanical properties: degradation evidence is only provided by measuring chemical processes. Oxidation induced by environmental conditions, in fact, causes carbonyl and carboxyl groups formation, with great impact on paper permanence and durability, even if mechanical characteristics are not affected in the short term ( Piantanida et al. 2005 ). During the degradation two main reactions prevail – hydrolysis of glycosidic bonds and oxidation of glucopyranose rings. As a result of some oxidation processes keto- and aldehyde groups are formed. These groups are highly reactive; they are prone to crosslinking, which is the third chemical process of cellulose decay ( Bansa 2002 , Calvini & Gorassini 2006 ).

At the accelerated paper ageing the decrease of DP is very rapid in the first stages of the ageing, later decelerates. During the longer time of the ageing there was determined the cellulose crosslinking by the method of size exclusion chromatography (SEC) ( Kačík et al. 2009 ). The similar dependences were obtained at the photo-induced cellulose degradation ( Malesic et al. 2005 ).

An attention is pay to the kinetic of the cellulose degradation in several decades, this process was studied by Kuhn in 1930 and the first model of the kinetic of the cellulose chains cleavage was elaborated by Ekenstam in 1936.This model is based on the kinetic equation of first-order and it is used to this day in modifications for the watching of the cellulose degradation in different conditions. Hill et al. (1995 ) deduced a similar model with the

Alterations of DP (degree of polymerisation) of cellulose fibres due to recycling and ageing at the pulp fibres drying temperature of 80°C, 100°C a 120°C.

contribution of the zero order kinetic. Experimental results are often controversial and new kinetic model for explanation of cellulose degradation at various conditions was proposed ( Calvini et al. 2008 ). The first-order kinetic model developed by these authors suggests that the kinetics of cellulose degradation depends upon the mode of ageing. An autoretardant path is followed during either acid hydrolysis in aqueous suspensions or oven ageing, while the production of volatile acid compounds trapped during the degradation in sealed environments primes an autocatalytic mechanism. Both these mechanisms are depleted by the consumption of the glycosidic bonds in the amorphous regions of cellulose until the levelling-off DP (LODP) is reached.

At the accelerated ageing ofnewspaper ( Kačík et al. 2008 ), the cellulose degradation causes the decrease of the average degree of polymerisation(DP). The DP decrease is caused by two factors in accordance with equation

DP = LODP + DP01.e -k1.t + DP02.e -k2.t ,

where LODP is levelling-off degree of polymerisation. There is a first factor higher and quickdecreasing during eight days and a second factor is lower and slow decreasing and dominant aftereight days of the accelerating ageing in the equation. The number of cleavaged bonds can be welldescribed by equation

DP 0 /DP t – 1 = n 0 .(1-e -k.t ),

where n 0 is an initial number of bonds available for degradation. The equation of the regression function is in accordance with Calvini et al. (2007 ) proposal, the calculated value (4.4976) is in a good accordance with the experimentally obtained average values of DP 0 a DP 60 (4.5057). The DP decreased to cca 38% of the initial value and the polydispersity degree to 66% of the initial value. The decrease of the rate constant with the time of ageing was obtained also by next authors ( Emsley et al. 1997 ; Zervos & Moropoulou 2005 ; Ding & Wang 2007 ). Čabalová et al. (2011 ) observed the influence of the accelerated ageing on the recycled pulp fibres, they determined the lowest decrease of DP at the fibres dried at the temperature of 120°C ( Fig. 10 ).

The simultaneous influence of the recycling and ageing has the similar impact at the drying temperatures of 80°C (decrease about 27,5 %) and 100°C (decrease about 27.6%) in regard of virgin pulp, lower alterations were at the temperature of 120°C (decrease about 21.5%). The ageing of the recycled paper causes the decrease of the pulp fiber DP, but the paper remains good properties.

4. Conclusion

The recycling is a necessity of this civilisation. The paper manufacturing is from its beginning affiliated with the recycling, because the paper was primarily manufactured from the 100 % furnish of rag. It is increasingly assented the trend of the recycled fibers use from the European and world criterion. The present European papermaking industry is based on the recycling.

The presence of the secondary fibres from the waste paper, their quality and amount is various in the time intervals, the seasons and the regional conditions. It depends on the manufacturing conditions in the paper making industry of the country.

At present the recycling is understood in larger sense than the material recycling, which has a big importance from view point of the paper recycling. Repeatedly used fibres do not fully regenerate their properties, so they cannot be recycled ad anfinitum. It allows to use the alternative possibilities of the paper utilisation in the building industry, at the soil reclamation, it the agriculture, in the power industry.

The most important aim is, however, the recycled paper utilisation for the paper manufacturing.

Acknowledgments

This work was financed by the Slovak Grant Agency VEGA (project number 1/0490/09).

• 11. CEPI (Confederation of European Paper Industries). 2006 Special Recycling 2005 Statistics- European Paper Industry Hits New Record in Recycling. 27.02.2011, Available from: http://www.erpa.info/images/Special_Recycling_2005_statistics.pdf
• 12. CEPI (Confederation of European Paper Industrie). 2010 Annual Statistic 2009. 27.02.2011, Available from: http://www.erpa.info/download/CEPI_annual_statistics%202009.pdf
• 18. European Declaration on Paper Recycling 2006 2010 , Monitoring Report 2009 (2010), 27.02. 2011, Available from: http://www.erpa.info/images/monitoring_report_2009.pdf

© 2011 The Author(s). Licensee IntechOpen. This chapter is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike-3.0 License , which permits use, distribution and reproduction for non-commercial purposes, provided the original is properly cited and derivative works building on this content are distributed under the same license.

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How to Write a Conclusion for Research Papers (with Examples)

The conclusion of a research paper is a crucial section that plays a significant role in the overall impact and effectiveness of your research paper. However, this is also the section that typically receives less attention compared to the introduction and the body of the paper. The conclusion serves to provide a concise summary of the key findings, their significance, their implications, and a sense of closure to the study. Discussing how can the findings be applied in real-world scenarios or inform policy, practice, or decision-making is especially valuable to practitioners and policymakers. The research paper conclusion also provides researchers with clear insights and valuable information for their own work, which they can then build on and contribute to the advancement of knowledge in the field.

The research paper conclusion should explain the significance of your findings within the broader context of your field. It restates how your results contribute to the existing body of knowledge and whether they confirm or challenge existing theories or hypotheses. Also, by identifying unanswered questions or areas requiring further investigation, your awareness of the broader research landscape can be demonstrated.

Remember to tailor the research paper conclusion to the specific needs and interests of your intended audience, which may include researchers, practitioners, policymakers, or a combination of these.

Table of Contents

What is a conclusion in a research paper, summarizing conclusion, editorial conclusion, externalizing conclusion, importance of a good research paper conclusion, how to write a conclusion for your research paper, research paper conclusion examples.

• How to write a research paper conclusion with Paperpal? 

Frequently Asked Questions

A conclusion in a research paper is the final section where you summarize and wrap up your research, presenting the key findings and insights derived from your study. The research paper conclusion is not the place to introduce new information or data that was not discussed in the main body of the paper. When working on how to conclude a research paper, remember to stick to summarizing and interpreting existing content. The research paper conclusion serves the following purposes: 1

• Warn readers of the possible consequences of not attending to the problem.
• Recommend specific course(s) of action.
• Restate key ideas to drive home the ultimate point of your research paper.
• Provide a “take-home” message that you want the readers to remember about your study.

Types of conclusions for research papers

In research papers, the conclusion provides closure to the reader. The type of research paper conclusion you choose depends on the nature of your study, your goals, and your target audience. I provide you with three common types of conclusions:

A summarizing conclusion is the most common type of conclusion in research papers. It involves summarizing the main points, reiterating the research question, and restating the significance of the findings. This common type of research paper conclusion is used across different disciplines.

An editorial conclusion is less common but can be used in research papers that are focused on proposing or advocating for a particular viewpoint or policy. It involves presenting a strong editorial or opinion based on the research findings and offering recommendations or calls to action.

An externalizing conclusion is a type of conclusion that extends the research beyond the scope of the paper by suggesting potential future research directions or discussing the broader implications of the findings. This type of conclusion is often used in more theoretical or exploratory research papers.

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The conclusion in a research paper serves several important purposes:

• Offers Implications and Recommendations : Your research paper conclusion is an excellent place to discuss the broader implications of your research and suggest potential areas for further study. It’s also an opportunity to offer practical recommendations based on your findings.
• Provides Closure : A good research paper conclusion provides a sense of closure to your paper. It should leave the reader with a feeling that they have reached the end of a well-structured and thought-provoking research project.
• Leaves a Lasting Impression : Writing a well-crafted research paper conclusion leaves a lasting impression on your readers. It’s your final opportunity to leave them with a new idea, a call to action, or a memorable quote.

Writing a strong conclusion for your research paper is essential to leave a lasting impression on your readers. Here’s a step-by-step process to help you create and know what to put in the conclusion of a research paper: 2

• Research Statement : Begin your research paper conclusion by restating your research statement. This reminds the reader of the main point you’ve been trying to prove throughout your paper. Keep it concise and clear.
• Key Points : Summarize the main arguments and key points you’ve made in your paper. Avoid introducing new information in the research paper conclusion. Instead, provide a concise overview of what you’ve discussed in the body of your paper.
• Address the Research Questions : If your research paper is based on specific research questions or hypotheses, briefly address whether you’ve answered them or achieved your research goals. Discuss the significance of your findings in this context.
• Significance : Highlight the importance of your research and its relevance in the broader context. Explain why your findings matter and how they contribute to the existing knowledge in your field.
• Implications : Explore the practical or theoretical implications of your research. How might your findings impact future research, policy, or real-world applications? Consider the “so what?” question.
• Future Research : Offer suggestions for future research in your area. What questions or aspects remain unanswered or warrant further investigation? This shows that your work opens the door for future exploration.
• Closing Thought : Conclude your research paper conclusion with a thought-provoking or memorable statement. This can leave a lasting impression on your readers and wrap up your paper effectively. Avoid introducing new information or arguments here.
• Proofread and Revise : Carefully proofread your conclusion for grammar, spelling, and clarity. Ensure that your ideas flow smoothly and that your conclusion is coherent and well-structured.

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Remember that a well-crafted research paper conclusion is a reflection of the strength of your research and your ability to communicate its significance effectively. It should leave a lasting impression on your readers and tie together all the threads of your paper. Now you know how to start the conclusion of a research paper and what elements to include to make it impactful, let’s look at a research paper conclusion sample.

How to write a research paper conclusion with Paperpal?

A research paper conclusion is not just a summary of your study, but a synthesis of the key findings that ties the research together and places it in a broader context. A research paper conclusion should be concise, typically around one paragraph in length. However, some complex topics may require a longer conclusion to ensure the reader is left with a clear understanding of the study’s significance. Paperpal, an AI writing assistant trusted by over 800,000 academics globally, can help you write a well-structured conclusion for your research paper. 

• Sign Up or Log In: Create a new Paperpal account or login with your details.  
• Navigate to Features : Once logged in, head over to the features’ side navigation pane. Click on Templates and you’ll find a suite of generative AI features to help you write better, faster.  
• Generate an outline: Under Templates, select ‘Outlines’. Choose ‘Research article’ as your document type.  
• Select your section: Since you’re focusing on the conclusion, select this section when prompted.  
• Choose your field of study: Identifying your field of study allows Paperpal to provide more targeted suggestions, ensuring the relevance of your conclusion to your specific area of research. 
• Provide a brief description of your study: Enter details about your research topic and findings. This information helps Paperpal generate a tailored outline that aligns with your paper’s content. 
• Generate the conclusion outline: After entering all necessary details, click on ‘generate’. Paperpal will then create a structured outline for your conclusion, to help you start writing and build upon the outline.  
• Write your conclusion: Use the generated outline to build your conclusion. The outline serves as a guide, ensuring you cover all critical aspects of a strong conclusion, from summarizing key findings to highlighting the research’s implications. 
• Refine and enhance: Paperpal’s ‘Make Academic’ feature can be particularly useful in the final stages. Select any paragraph of your conclusion and use this feature to elevate the academic tone, ensuring your writing is aligned to the academic journal standards. 

By following these steps, Paperpal not only simplifies the process of writing a research paper conclusion but also ensures it is impactful, concise, and aligned with academic standards. Sign up with Paperpal today and write your research paper conclusion 2x faster .  

The research paper conclusion is a crucial part of your paper as it provides the final opportunity to leave a strong impression on your readers. In the research paper conclusion, summarize the main points of your research paper by restating your research statement, highlighting the most important findings, addressing the research questions or objectives, explaining the broader context of the study, discussing the significance of your findings, providing recommendations if applicable, and emphasizing the takeaway message. The main purpose of the conclusion is to remind the reader of the main point or argument of your paper and to provide a clear and concise summary of the key findings and their implications. All these elements should feature on your list of what to put in the conclusion of a research paper to create a strong final statement for your work.

A strong conclusion is a critical component of a research paper, as it provides an opportunity to wrap up your arguments, reiterate your main points, and leave a lasting impression on your readers. Here are the key elements of a strong research paper conclusion: 1. Conciseness : A research paper conclusion should be concise and to the point. It should not introduce new information or ideas that were not discussed in the body of the paper. 2. Summarization : The research paper conclusion should be comprehensive enough to give the reader a clear understanding of the research’s main contributions. 3 . Relevance : Ensure that the information included in the research paper conclusion is directly relevant to the research paper’s main topic and objectives; avoid unnecessary details. 4 . Connection to the Introduction : A well-structured research paper conclusion often revisits the key points made in the introduction and shows how the research has addressed the initial questions or objectives. 5. Emphasis : Highlight the significance and implications of your research. Why is your study important? What are the broader implications or applications of your findings? 6 . Call to Action : Include a call to action or a recommendation for future research or action based on your findings.

The length of a research paper conclusion can vary depending on several factors, including the overall length of the paper, the complexity of the research, and the specific journal requirements. While there is no strict rule for the length of a conclusion, but it’s generally advisable to keep it relatively short. A typical research paper conclusion might be around 5-10% of the paper’s total length. For example, if your paper is 10 pages long, the conclusion might be roughly half a page to one page in length.

In general, you do not need to include citations in the research paper conclusion. Citations are typically reserved for the body of the paper to support your arguments and provide evidence for your claims. However, there may be some exceptions to this rule: 1. If you are drawing a direct quote or paraphrasing a specific source in your research paper conclusion, you should include a citation to give proper credit to the original author. 2. If your conclusion refers to or discusses specific research, data, or sources that are crucial to the overall argument, citations can be included to reinforce your conclusion’s validity.

The conclusion of a research paper serves several important purposes: 1. Summarize the Key Points 2. Reinforce the Main Argument 3. Provide Closure 4. Offer Insights or Implications 5. Engage the Reader. 6. Reflect on Limitations

Remember that the primary purpose of the research paper conclusion is to leave a lasting impression on the reader, reinforcing the key points and providing closure to your research. It’s often the last part of the paper that the reader will see, so it should be strong and well-crafted.

• Makar, G., Foltz, C., Lendner, M., & Vaccaro, A. R. (2018). How to write effective discussion and conclusion sections. Clinical spine surgery, 31(8), 345-346.
• Bunton, D. (2005). The structure of PhD conclusion chapters.  Journal of English for academic purposes ,  4 (3), 207-224.

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Writing a Research Paper Conclusion | Step-by-Step Guide

Published on October 30, 2022 by Jack Caulfield . Revised on April 13, 2023.

• Restate the problem statement addressed in the paper
• Summarize your overall arguments or findings
• Suggest the key takeaways from your paper

The content of the conclusion varies depending on whether your paper presents the results of original empirical research or constructs an argument through engagement with sources .

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Table of contents

Step 1: restate the problem, step 2: sum up the paper, step 3: discuss the implications, research paper conclusion examples, frequently asked questions about research paper conclusions.

The first task of your conclusion is to remind the reader of your research problem . You will have discussed this problem in depth throughout the body, but now the point is to zoom back out from the details to the bigger picture.

While you are restating a problem you’ve already introduced, you should avoid phrasing it identically to how it appeared in the introduction . Ideally, you’ll find a novel way to circle back to the problem from the more detailed ideas discussed in the body.

For example, an argumentative paper advocating new measures to reduce the environmental impact of agriculture might restate its problem as follows:

Meanwhile, an empirical paper studying the relationship of Instagram use with body image issues might present its problem like this:

“In conclusion …”

Avoid starting your conclusion with phrases like “In conclusion” or “To conclude,” as this can come across as too obvious and make your writing seem unsophisticated. The content and placement of your conclusion should make its function clear without the need for additional signposting.

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Having zoomed back in on the problem, it’s time to summarize how the body of the paper went about addressing it, and what conclusions this approach led to.

Depending on the nature of your research paper, this might mean restating your thesis and arguments, or summarizing your overall findings.

Argumentative paper: Restate your thesis and arguments

In an argumentative paper, you will have presented a thesis statement in your introduction, expressing the overall claim your paper argues for. In the conclusion, you should restate the thesis and show how it has been developed through the body of the paper.

Briefly summarize the key arguments made in the body, showing how each of them contributes to proving your thesis. You may also mention any counterarguments you addressed, emphasizing why your thesis holds up against them, particularly if your argument is a controversial one.

Don’t go into the details of your evidence or present new ideas; focus on outlining in broad strokes the argument you have made.

Empirical paper: Summarize your findings

In an empirical paper, this is the time to summarize your key findings. Don’t go into great detail here (you will have presented your in-depth results and discussion already), but do clearly express the answers to the research questions you investigated.

Describe your main findings, even if they weren’t necessarily the ones you expected or hoped for, and explain the overall conclusion they led you to.

Having summed up your key arguments or findings, the conclusion ends by considering the broader implications of your research. This means expressing the key takeaways, practical or theoretical, from your paper—often in the form of a call for action or suggestions for future research.

Argumentative paper: Strong closing statement

An argumentative paper generally ends with a strong closing statement. In the case of a practical argument, make a call for action: What actions do you think should be taken by the people or organizations concerned in response to your argument?

If your topic is more theoretical and unsuitable for a call for action, your closing statement should express the significance of your argument—for example, in proposing a new understanding of a topic or laying the groundwork for future research.

Empirical paper: Future research directions

In a more empirical paper, you can close by either making recommendations for practice (for example, in clinical or policy papers), or suggesting directions for future research.

Whatever the scope of your own research, there will always be room for further investigation of related topics, and you’ll often discover new questions and problems during the research process .

Finish your paper on a forward-looking note by suggesting how you or other researchers might build on this topic in the future and address any limitations of the current paper.

Full examples of research paper conclusions are shown in the tabs below: one for an argumentative paper, the other for an empirical paper.

• Argumentative paper
• Empirical paper

While the role of cattle in climate change is by now common knowledge, countries like the Netherlands continually fail to confront this issue with the urgency it deserves. The evidence is clear: To create a truly futureproof agricultural sector, Dutch farmers must be incentivized to transition from livestock farming to sustainable vegetable farming. As well as dramatically lowering emissions, plant-based agriculture, if approached in the right way, can produce more food with less land, providing opportunities for nature regeneration areas that will themselves contribute to climate targets. Although this approach would have economic ramifications, from a long-term perspective, it would represent a significant step towards a more sustainable and resilient national economy. Transitioning to sustainable vegetable farming will make the Netherlands greener and healthier, setting an example for other European governments. Farmers, policymakers, and consumers must focus on the future, not just on their own short-term interests, and work to implement this transition now.

As social media becomes increasingly central to young people’s everyday lives, it is important to understand how different platforms affect their developing self-conception. By testing the effect of daily Instagram use among teenage girls, this study established that highly visual social media does indeed have a significant effect on body image concerns, with a strong correlation between the amount of time spent on the platform and participants’ self-reported dissatisfaction with their appearance. However, the strength of this effect was moderated by pre-test self-esteem ratings: Participants with higher self-esteem were less likely to experience an increase in body image concerns after using Instagram. This suggests that, while Instagram does impact body image, it is also important to consider the wider social and psychological context in which this usage occurs: Teenagers who are already predisposed to self-esteem issues may be at greater risk of experiencing negative effects. Future research into Instagram and other highly visual social media should focus on establishing a clearer picture of how self-esteem and related constructs influence young people’s experiences of these platforms. Furthermore, while this experiment measured Instagram usage in terms of time spent on the platform, observational studies are required to gain more insight into different patterns of usage—to investigate, for instance, whether active posting is associated with different effects than passive consumption of social media content.

If you’re unsure about the conclusion, it can be helpful to ask a friend or fellow student to read your conclusion and summarize the main takeaways.

• Do they understand from your conclusion what your research was about?
• Are they able to summarize the implications of your findings?
• Can they answer your research question based on your conclusion?

You can also get an expert to proofread and feedback your paper with a paper editing service .

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The conclusion of a research paper has several key elements you should make sure to include:

• A restatement of the research problem
• A summary of your key arguments and/or findings
• A short discussion of the implications of your research

No, it’s not appropriate to present new arguments or evidence in the conclusion . While you might be tempted to save a striking argument for last, research papers follow a more formal structure than this.

All your findings and arguments should be presented in the body of the text (more specifically in the results and discussion sections if you are following a scientific structure). The conclusion is meant to summarize and reflect on the evidence and arguments you have already presented, not introduce new ones.

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A Scientometric Review of Resource Recycling Industry

With rapid economic development and urbanization, a large number of primary resources are consumed and accumulate in society as recyclable resource, which causes great pressure on the environment. The development of the resource recycling industry (RRI) can reduce environmental impacts and achieve sustainable development and green growth. Scholars are paying more attention to the resource recycling industry (RRI), and the related literature continues to increase. There are over 7041 publications covering RRI in the Web of Science database from 1996 to 2018. This paper analyzes the time distribution characteristics of the literature and the status of the scientific research cooperation network using the visualization analysis software CiteSpace. The number of documents increased from 94 in 1996 to a peak of 963 in 2018. There is no relatively stable core author group. The number of papers published by “Chinese Acad Sci” ranks first among all research institutions. Document co-citation analysis and burst detection are adopted to assess the status and emerging trends in the RRI research domain. A publication by M.C. Monte on waste management is the most cited paper. Additionally, “green and sustainable and technology” and “science and technology—other topics” are the latest emerging subject categories in RRI research. Furthermore, “e-waste”, “reverse logistics” and “lean manufacturing” are emerging research trends for RRI, and “carbon emissions”, “policy”, “demolition waste”, “supply chain management” and “compressive strength” have become hot topics. These findings may provide inspiration for scholars to search for new research directions and ideas.

1. Introduction

The term “recyclable resource” in this paper is defined as “various wastes produced in the process of social production and consumption, which have lost all or part of their original use-value, and can be recycled and processed so that they can regain their use-value” [ 1 ]. Recyclable resource includes scrap metals; electronic scrap products; scrap mechanical and electrical equipment and their components; scrap paper raw materials (such as wastepaper, cotton); scrap light chemical raw materials (such as rubber, plastics, pesticide packaging, animal bone and hair) and scrap glass [ 1 ]. The resource recycling industry (RRI) refers to the enterprises engaged in recycling, processing, and utilization of recyclable resource, scientific and technological development, information services, commodity circulation of recyclable resource and other activities.

With rapid economic development and urbanization, large quantities of primary resources are consumed and accumulate in society as recycled resources, which cause great pressure on the environment. The continuous development of human society requires the acquisition of various resources from nature, and the world faces the threat of resource depletion. At the same time, the various wastes (recyclable resource) produced by humans have not been used to their maximum efficiency, which further aggravates the impact of human society on the natural environment. Vigorous development of RRI will reduce societal demand for natural resources, achieve recycling and sustainable development of resources, and thus minimize the environmental impact caused by human demands for resources from nature. Therefore, the degree of development of the RRI will be another important indicator for assessing the impact of human social development on the environment. This has also aroused widespread concern among scholars. Ongondo et al. conducted a comprehensive analysis of the management of e-waste covering many countries and regions around the world and discussed the future direction of e-waste [ 2 ]. Xu et al. reviewed the global status of waste solar panel recycling [ 3 ]. Jefferson Hopewell et al. reviewed plastic recycling and presented challenges and opportunities for plastic recycling [ 4 ]. Chen et al. reviewed the development status of the inhibition of the anaerobic digestion process [ 5 ]. Additionally, Yao and Zhang [ 6 ] systematically sorted out and analyzed the policies of China’s RRI to study the impact of policies on the industry. However, these studies are conducted from the single perspective of the RRI, such as waste recycling, recycling technologies, environmental impacts and industrial policies.

According to the theories of material flow analysis and life cycle analysis, we can divide the flow of resources into four stages, as shown in Figure 1 . The four phases are mine extraction; production and manufacture; use and consumption and resource recycling (waste management). In this paper, we focus on the fourth stage, and the system boundary of the study is indicated by the red dotted line in Figure 1 . Based on Figure 1 and the theory of material flow analysis, the final hosts of waste should be two. The first host is to return to society after remanufacturing or renovation, and the second host is to incinerate or place in landfills, thereby returning to the natural world. However, incineration and landfills cause serious environmental pollution. For the sake of minimizing the environmental impact of waste generated by society, we must promote the development of RRI to improve the resource recycling rate. There are still many problems in the development of RRI. Exploring the status quo and development trends of RRI research, and promoting the deepening of related research will contribute to the sustainable and healthy development of the RRI. This paper is based on 7041 articles in the core collection database of Web of Science (WOS) from 1996 to 2018. We used the literature measurement visualization software, CiteSpace, combined with social network analysis, co-citation analysis, emergent analysis, information science and bibliometrics, and the research results of the RRI are systematically sorted out. Therefore, the research path and knowledge clustering of the RRI are identified, and the research hotspots and evolutionary contexts are explored. The results obtained from this study can help new researchers to quickly understand the research status of the RRI field so that they can devote themselves to research within a short period of time. These findings may provide inspiration for scholars to search for new research directions and ideas. In the end, it will promote the deepening development of related research on RRI and promote the ecological development of RRI.

System boundaries of the resource recycling industry visualization analysis.

2. Methodology and Data Sources

At present, the most common and authoritative scientific databases in the world are the Web of Science (WOS), Scopus and Google Scholar. Many scholars have also conducted a detailed comparative analysis of the data coverage of WOS, Scopus and Google Scholar, and of the quality of journals and the advantages and disadvantages of these databases [ 7 , 8 , 9 ].

Wang and Waltman [ 10 ] conducted a comparative analysis of Scopus and Web of Science in the article “Large-scale analysis of the accuracy of the journal classification systems of Web of Science and Scopus”. It turns out that according to their citation-based criteria Web of Science performs significantly better than Scopus in terms of the accuracy of its journal classification system. What is more, the WOS database provides more consistent and standardized documentation of the literature in comparison to other databases, including the title of the paper, abstracts, keywords, article types, journals, year of publication, volume number, page number and references [ 11 , 12 ]. These records are necessary for visualization and bibliometric analysis. Moreover, Falagas et al. found that the literature data obtained from the WOS database was able to produce better visualizations [ 13 ]. In the summary analysis of previous scientific measurement articles, we also learned that most scholars tend to use the WOS database when performing bibliometric and visualization analysis [ 14 , 15 , 16 , 17 , 18 , 19 ]. Additionally, when using CiteSpace for visualization analysis, the literature data obtained from WOS can use all of its analysis functions, and the data obtained from the Scopus database cannot use all of these functions, such as domain co-occurrence analysis [ 20 ]. For the above reasons, this paper chose to use the WOS database to search the literature data. To ensure the quality of the literature data, we chose WOS’s core collection database, including SCI-Expanded, SSCI, CCR-Expanded and IC. The data in this article comes from the Web of Science database, so the statistical methods for articles published by authors, institutions and countries are the same.

According to the system boundary of the research content of this paper, as shown in Figure 1 , we first chose the resource recycling industry as the search keyword. Considering that different countries or different scholars use different terms to represent the resource recycling industry, we tried different keywords to search the literature during the search process. We then compared the correlation between the literature searched with different keywords and the research topic of this paper and consulted experts in related fields. The data acquisition method and the scientometric analysis structure of this paper is shown in Figure 2 . We determined the following search strategy: TS = (resource recycling industry) OR TS = (waste recycling industry) OR TS = (resource regeneration industry) OR TS = (waste management industry), Timespan = “All years”; articles and reviews are selected as literature types. Among them, TS = Topic, which is a search expression used for advanced retrieval in the Web of Science database. For example, TS = (resource recycling industry), which means find records of literature containing the terms resource recycling industry in the Topic field. Then, a manual screening step was performed to remove the articles that did not match the theme, and 7041 articles were finally obtained. The literature search and download date was December 28 2018. It should be noted that the literature data analyzed in this paper did not include “grey literature” such as research reports. The main reason is that the “grey literature” does not have the standard recording format required for visualization analysis. This is also a common problem faced by scholars when using CiteSpace for visualization analysis. However, previous research papers indicate that this does not have much impact on the results of the visualization analysis [ 21 ].

Research design.

The documentation visualization analysis tool is CiteSpace software, and the software version is CiteSpace 5.3. R4. The software used to draw the histogram of the number of documents is EXCEL. CiteSpace is translated as “citation space”. It is multi-dimensional, time-sharing and dynamic visualization analysis software developed by Chaomei Chen, Professor of Computer and Information Science at Drexel University in the United States and is based on the JAVA language. Burst detection can be used to detect abrupt changes in nodes, including author, country, keywords and more [ 22 ]. Betweenness centrality in CiteSpace is also a measure of the importance of nodes in the network. In CiteSpace’s visualization map, key nodes that link different domains usually have high betweenness centrality [ 23 ]. CiteSpace software can be used to understand the structure, regularity and distribution of a certain knowledge domain, it can conduct collaborative analysis by authors, institutions and countries to explore the changing laws of a scientific field. It is also possible to find the knowledge base, research trends, research hotspots and frontiers in a scientific field. In recent years, CiteSpace has received extensive attention from scholars as efficient and powerful scientometric software [ 24 ]. Due to the many risks related to information security, Li and Li [ 25 ] analyzed the knowledge structure and the future direction of information security by using CiteSpace. Using CiteSpace, Xiao et al. explored the development status of organic photovoltaic technology and the trends of future research [ 26 ]. Wei et al. studied the geographic information systems knowledge domain and current research hotspots [ 27 ]. Yu and Chao [ 28 ] conducted a co-citation analysis of related research on carbon emissions trading and explored its subject categories, main research fields and new emerging trends. It should be noted that some of the visualization analysis techniques and bibliometric analysis methods used in this article are the same as were used in the above articles. It also shows that the analysis methods used in this paper are practiced by scholars and are considered to be scientific.

3. Results and Discussion

3.1. current status of the resource recycling industry (rri), 3.1.1. publication years and journals.

The publication of academic papers is generally considered to be an indicator for measuring the level of development of a discipline. The change in the number of documents can directly reflect changes in the amount of scientific knowledge [ 29 ]. According to Figure 3 , the document types mainly concentrate on three categories: article (6206), review (509) and proceedings papers (256). This paper counted the number of documents retrieved using Excel software and created a histogram of the document distribution, as shown in Figure 4 . During the past decades, the number of documents regarding RRI had increased steadily from 94 in 1996 to a peak of 963 in 2018. From another perspective, related research in the resource recycling industry has attracted more attention from society and from scholars. Additionally, according to the growth rate of the number of documents, we could divide the literature quantity levels into two stages. The first stage is from 1996 to 2009, where the growth in the number of documents was relatively slow. At this stage, scholars gradually began to pay attention to the field of RRI. The second stage is from 2009 to 2018, and the growth rate of literature quantity has increased. Although the Copenhagen World Climate Conference, held in 2009, failed to produce a legally binding agreement, it aroused wide concern and discussion of global climate change and environmental issues in the international community. This may be one of the most important factors in 2009 as the turning point of literature quantity change.

The distribution of document types.

The number of publications in the resource recycling industry (RRI) area from 1996 to 2018.

From the search results, we could see that more than one hundred journals published research papers related to the resource recycling industry. We selected the top ten journals with the largest number of published articles and created Table 1 . As shown in Table 1 , the Journal of Cleaner Production is the journal with the most published papers relevant to this study. A total of 614 papers were published in the Journal of Cleaner Production, accounting for 8.72% of the total published papers. The impact factor of the Journal of Cleaner Production is 5.651, and the subject categories “Engineering, Environmental” and “Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews” have the highest impact factor among the 10 journals studied, with an impact factor of 9.184, and the subject category is “Green and Sustainable Science and Technology”. The subject categories of these journals are mainly about environmental science, engineering technology, biotechnology, microbiology, architecture and sustainable science. This shows that research papers in the field of RRI involve multidisciplinary fields.

The top 10 journals in terms of publications.

3.1.2. Scientific Cooperation Network Analysis

CiteSpace mainly provides three levels of scientific cooperation network analysis, namely, the micro-author cooperation network (co-Author), the meso-institutional cooperation network (co-institution) and macro-national cooperation (co-country/territory). Katz and Martin define scientific cooperation as the research of scholars who work together to create new scientific knowledge [ 30 ]. In actual scientific research, scientific cooperation manifests itself in a variety of forms. The scientific cooperation referred to in this paper was that there were different authors, institutions or countries for the same article. We could believe that there was a cooperative relationship between these authors, institutions and countries.

Co-Author Analysis

A core research scholar in a field of research can be found through statistical analysis of authors. Table 2 lists the top 20 authors who published the greatest number of articles. From Table 2 , we found that LI JH was the author with the most published articles with a total of 26. Price’s law is one of the laws of scientometrics, which comes from Derek J. de sola price’s “small science, big science” (Davis, 1985; Price, 1963) [ 31 ]. Price’s law is generally used to describe the quantitative relationship between the number of scientists and the number of scientific literature, as well as between scientists of different ability levels. According to Price’s law, the core author’s certification formula is M ≈ 0.749√Nmax. In the formula, Nmax is the author with the largest number of posts; M is the minimum number of posts by the core author. In this paper, M ≈ 0.749 × 5.099 = 3.81. Therefore, authors who have published a large number of four articles can be identified as core authors. According to the statistical results, a total of 132 scholars published more than four papers, and the 132 core authors published a total of 854 papers. Since the number of articles published by core authors is less than 50% of the total, it can be considered that there is no relatively stable core author group in the RRI field.

The top 20 authors in the RRI research area.

We then imported 7041 documents retrieved from the Web of Science into CiteSpace. In the author’s collaborative network analysis, the timespan selected from 1996 to 2018, the time slice selected was 1 year, and the selection criteria were the top 50%. Figure 5 shows an author’s cooperative network map of research in the field of resource recycling industry. In Figure 5 , the size of a node represents the number of papers published by the author. The map shows the time distance in cool and warm tones, from cool to warm, indicating time from far and near. As seen from the parameters in the upper left corner of the spectrum, the density of the network was 0.0031. In general, the nodes were relatively scattered and there were fewer connections between nodes. That shows that, although RRI researchers have a certain scale, they are scattered, and there are many relatively isolated authors, only some of the more closely related research teams. Among them, the cooperative group centered on authors such as LI JH, ZHANG Y, LI J and LIU Y, and this group was the largest and most closely connected.

Network map showing author cooperation.

Co-Institution Analysis

According to the statistical results, a total of 454 institutions around the world have published research papers related to the resource recycling industry. We selected the top ten institutions (by number of papers published) and plotted the results in Table 3 .

The top 10 institutions in terms of publications.

From Table 3 , the number of RRI-related research papers published by the Chinese Academy of Sciences was the greatest, with a total of 112 papers published. Among the top ten institutions by the number of papers published, in second and third place were Hong Kong Polytechnic University and Tsinghua University. Overall, among the top ten institutions (ranked by the number of published papers), four were from China. England, Spain, Australia, Portugal, India and Malaysia each have one institution in the top ten. USA, Germany, Italy, Canada and Brazil have no research institutions in the top ten, although the number of papers published in these countries was relatively large. Figure 6 shows the institution’s cooperative network map of research on the field of RRI. The overall tone of the institutional cooperation network map was warm, and the connecting lines were also mostly yellow. This shows that exchanges and cooperation between institutions have recently been closed. There may be two main reasons: first, the rapid development of computer and information technology, international exchange and cooperation are more convenient; second, the in-depth development of renewable resources industry research, scholars from different disciplines and different fields are cooperating. In the institutional cooperation network map, the “Chinese Acad Sci” has a purple outer ring outside the node, indicating that it has high betweenness centrality. Therefore, it can be considered that “Chinese Acad Sci” plays an important role in research cooperation between institutions.

Network map of institutional cooperation.

Co-Country/Territory Analysis

Different countries have paid different amounts of attention to RRI research. We extracted the top ten countries by the number of published papers. From Table 4 , we see that China was the country that had published the most research papers in RRI related fields. China was followed by the USA, England, Spain, India, Australia, Brazil, Germany, Italy and Canada. Among the top ten, three were developing countries, namely, China, India and Brazil. This shows that although developing countries had a certain sharing role in RRI research, the dominant countries were still the developed countries.

Figure 7 shows the national cooperation network, and there were a total of 80 nodes and 93 lines, which means 80 countries were involved in cooperation. In Figure 7 , “PEOPLES R CHINA” is a shorthand for the “People’s Republic of China” in the Web of Science database. In the text of this paper, we still used the more commonly used word “China” for the sake of brevity. Among them, there were more lines between the developed countries of Europe, indicating that their research cooperation and exchanges were more closely related. From the centrality, Italy had the highest central value, with a central value of 0.23. This can be illustrated by the fact that the Italy node had a purple outer ring. England ranked second with a central value of 0.19. In this case, developed countries such as Italy and England can greatly influence research trends in this area. The map shows the time distance in cool and warm tones, from cool to warm, indicating time from far and near. Similarly, the different colors in the nodes indicate the far and near time of the country’s published literature. There were more cool colors in the USA nodes than in China, which reflects that the USA research in the RRI field started earlier than China. Besides, there was a red circle in each of the nodes of the USA, England and Germany, which was the result of the detection of the burst value. A country had a burst value, indicating that the country’s number of publications in the RRI field had increased rapidly during a certain period of time. Although China’s tree rings were slightly larger than those for the United States, China’s ring layers were fewer than for the United States. This means that the number of publications in the People’s Republic of China had increased dramatically in recent years, but that early research in the United States had a solid foundation. In a way, we could view China as a powerful force in RRI research and that the United States had always been the leading force. Overall, the development of the RRI field was inseparable from the strong cooperation of various countries in the world.

Network map of country cooperation.

3.2. Literature Co-Citation Analysis

Mutual citation in the scientific literature indicates that scientific literature is not isolated but is a system of mutual connections and continuous extension. The mutual references between scientific literature reflect the accumulation, continuity, and inheritance of scientific knowledge. Co-citation analysis means that two documents appear together in the bibliography of a third citing document so that the two papers can be considered to form a co-citation relationship [ 32 ]. It is generally believed that highly-cited literature constitutes a source of the knowledge base in a subject area, and highly cited authors are also considered to have greater influence in the field of their research. Therefore, using the CiteSpace’s function of co-citation analysis, we could discover the knowledge base, key literature and main research areas for resource recycling industry research.

3.2.1. Research Clusters Analysis

In the literature co-citation analysis, the relevant parameters of the CiteSpace software were set as follows: the time width used was from 1996 to 2018, the time slice selection was 1, the screening standard was top50, and the network cutting mode selected MST. The minimum spanning tree (MST) is a network clipping algorithm that improves the readability of the network by preserving important connections in the network. The idea of the MST algorithm is to construct a spanning tree containing the smallest sum of all vertices and weights based on the original graph G (Chen, 2006) [ 23 ]. As shown in Figure 8 , 11 major clusters formed after running the software. In addition, the red nodes in the figure were documents with high bursts. After data analysis, we generated Table 1 , showing the top ten largest research clusters. In Table 1 , size represents the number of members included in each cluster. Silhouette is an indicator to evaluate the clusters. Specifically, the clustering was evaluated by measuring the indicators of network homogeneity. The closer the value of the silhouette is to 1, the higher the homogeneity of the network. A Silhouette value >0.5 means that the clustering result is rational. In this section, the log-likelihood ratio algorithm (LLR) was used to label the clusters. The log-likelihood ratio algorithm (LLR) is a method used by Professor Dunning to extract similar terms in text and calculate the similarity rate to name the cluster (Dunning, 1993) [ 33 ]. In Table 1 , the last column of mean represents the average of the reference years. This represents the average year in which the literature was published in the same cluster. It can be used to judge the old and new work in a document cluster and is very useful for researchers.

Cluster network for the RRI research area.

From Table 5 , cluster #5 “eco-efficiency” is the earliest clustering in the RRI field. This shows that the reason scholars first studied RRI is because of the excellent ecological benefits and positive effect on environmental protection and resource conservation. In addition, we know that Cluster 7, Cluster 2 and Cluster 8 are newly formed Clusters, which means that “e-waste”, “reverse logistics” and “lean manufacturing” are the hot spots in recent RRI research. With the development of society, e-waste poses one of the world’s greatest pollution problems [ 34 ]. Therefore, scientific research on the recycling of electronic waste is particularly important. Reverse logistics is defined as “The process of planning, implementing, and controlling the efficient, cost-effective flow of raw materials, in-process inventory, finished goods and related information from the point of consumption to the point of origin for the purpose of recapturing value or proper disposal” [ 35 ]. Reverse logistics plays a vital role in the construction of resource recycling network systems. After the collection of scrapped products from customers, repair, dismantling, remanufacturing, recycling and other methods are adopted [ 36 ]. It should be noted that lean manufacturing here means that the product should follow the principle of reduction when it is produced. This means using fewer raw materials and energy inputs to achieve the intended production or consumption purposes then save resources and reduce pollution from the sources of economic activities. At the same time, in production, the principle of reduction often appears to require a lean product.

The largest 10 clusters in the RRI research area.

3.2.2. Analysis of Highly Cited Documents

We sorted out the basic information for the papers that were the top ten most cited, as shown in Table 6 . It must be noted that the number of citations referred to in this article did not refer to the number of citations from the WOS but the number of citations among the 7041 documents retrieved for this article. This was derived from CiteSpace’s literature co-citation analysis function. It indicates that “Waste management from pulp and paper production in the European Union” published by M.C. Monte on Waste Management is the most cited paper among the 7041 documents. Brett H. Robinson analyzed and predicted the current and future global production of electrical waste. He also analyzed potential environmental contaminants associated with e-waste and studied environmental pollution caused by e-waste during recycling and disposal. He believes that e-waste in today’s society has become ubiquitous and that pollution caused by e-waste has caused considerable pollution to the environments of developing countries and has already threatened human health [ 37 ]. F.O. Ongondo conducted in-depth research and analysis on e-waste management practices and made some critical comments. In addition, he also made some suggestions and prospects for the generation, governance and supervision of e-waste [ 2 ]. Additionally, Cui and Zhang [ 38 ] published a review of the recovery of metals from electronic waste. He presented the initial research on the topic and discussed the mechanisms and models of biosorption of precious metal ions from solutions. S.M. Al-Salem retrospectively analyzed the recycling and recycling routes of plastic solid waste [ 39 ]. Patrizia Ghisellini provided a review of the literature of the last two decades and analyzed the main circular economy features and perspectives: origins, basic principles, advantages and disadvantages at different levels [ 40 ]. From the above, among the ten highly cited papers, three concern e-waste and three concern techniques and methods for resource recovery and disposal. It can be seen that e-waste and resource recycling are important research contents in the RRI field.

The top 10 cited documents.

3.3. Burst Detection in RRI Research Areas

In CiteSpace, the algorithm proposed by Kleinberg, J. in 2002 was used for burst detection [ 46 ]. According to the choice of burst nodes, it can be divided into burst topics, documents, authors, journals and fields. In CiteSpace, the more burst nodes a cluster contains, the more active the field is or the more active are the emerging trends of research [ 47 ].

3.3.1. Analysis of Emerging Development Trends

When we performed burst detection, if the type of a node in the visual map was an article, we usually considered that these articles with citation bursts had received special attention from the academic community in a past period. In addition, if a research cluster contains many articles with bursts, then we could consider this research cluster to be an emerging trend [ 48 ]. After we analyzed the data with CiteSpace, we found that there were many documents with citation bursts. We listed the top 10 articles with citation bursts, as shown in Table 7 .

The top 10 references with the strongest citation bursts.

It should be explained that the entire line in the last column of Table 7 , Table 8 and Table 9 represents the period of the study (1996–2018), and the red part represents the period of a citation burst. Among them, one of the dotted lines (-) represents one year. According to the ranking burst, the first was MONTE MC [ 41 ], with a burst value of 12.868 and a cluster number of #0. The second was ROBINSON BH [ 37 ] with a burst value of 10.271 and a cluster number of #7. The third was AL-SALEM SM [ 39 ] with a burst value of 10.062 and a cluster number of #12. The 4th was BINNEMANS K [ 45 ] with a burst value of 9.259 and a cluster number of #7. The 5th was PARFITT J [ 49 ] with a burst value of 9.125 and a cluster number of #8. The 6th was FINNVEDEN G [ 42 ] with a burst value of 9.080 and a cluster number of #6. The 7th was Narayanan and ONGONDO FO [ 2 ] with a burst value of 8.498 and a cluster number of #9. The 8th was HOPEWELL J [ 4 ] with a burst value of 8.113 and a cluster number of #12. The 9th was RECK BK [ 50 ] with a burst value of 8.093 and a cluster number of #7. The 10th was GRAEDEL TE [ 43 ] with a burst value of 7.095 and a cluster number of #7. After the above analysis, we clearly knew that there were four papers in the top ten high citation bursts references that belonged to cluster #7. This also reflects, from another perspective, that “e-waste” is an emerging research trend in the field of RRI research. Among the top 10 references, the top-ranked item by bursts was MONTE MC in Cluster #0, which means that “industrial ecology” is an important research area.

The top 10 subject categories with bursts.

Additionally, with a keyword burst detection analysis of CiteSpace software, we could explore the rapidly growing topics in this field [ 48 ]. Through detailed analysis using CiteSpace, we found a number of keywords with bursts and selected the top 20 keywords for these bursts; see Table 8 . The changes in the burst keywords in the list can be roughly divided into three phases according to time. The first phase was 1996–1999, the second phase was 2000–2009 and the third phase was 2010–2018. In the first phase, the main purpose of RRI development was to achieve “pollution prevention”, “waste minimization” and “sustainable development”. The methods of waste treatment at that time mainly included “incineration”, “landfill”, “recycle” and “reuse”. The most prominent concern at the time was “hazardous waste”. In the second phase, the relatively prominent goal of RRI research was to achieve “industrial ecology”. The main methods adopted were “cleaner production” and “solid waste management”. This stage was focused on “industrial waste”. In the third phase, with the deepening of scientific research, research content had become extensive and detailed. At this stage, the research by international scholars focused on “carbon emissions”, “reverse logistics”, “policy”, “e-waste”, “demolition waste”, “supply chain management” and “compressive strength”. At the same time, the research topics at this stage were also emerging research trends in the RRI field. The above research shows that the research theme of the resource recycling industry was constantly changing over time.

3.3.2. Burst Detection on Subject Categories in RRI Research Area

When using CiteSpace for data analysis, the node type selects the category, and after running the software, the co-occurrence network of the subject categories in the RRI field could be obtained, as shown in Figure 9 . As seen from this figure, RRI research involves engineering, environmental science and ecology, materials science, chemistry, energy science, architecture, applied microbiology, polymer science, agricultural science, biotechnology, metallurgical technology and sustainable science. Among these, engineering, environmental science and ecology and environmental science have the highest frequencies. In CiteSpace, a node with a red inner ring represents a burst node. Figure 9 shows only the two nodes with the highest bursts, namely, “GREEN and SUSTAINABLE and TECHNOLOGY” and “SCIENCE and TECHNOLOGY—OTHER TOPICS”. Subsequently, we conducted burst detection of subject categories and listed the top ten subject categories, as shown in Table 9 . These results show that “GREEN and SUSTAINABLE and TECHNOLOGY” and “SCIENCE and TECHNOLOGY—OTHER TOPICS” were also the latest emerging subject categories of RRI research.

Co-occurrence network of subject categories.

4. Conclusions

In this paper, 7041 papers retrieved from the Web of Science database were used as the data foundation, and research on the resource recycling industry was visualized and analyzed. Some analysis results were as follows.

First, during the past decades, the number of documents covering RRI increased steadily from 94 in 1996 to a peak of 963 in 2018, which fully explained that the research in the resource recycling industry had attracted more attention from society and from scholars. The journal “Journal of Cleaner Production” was the journal with the most publications. Among the top 10 most productive journals, the journal “Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews” had the highest impact factor.

Second, it could be considered that there was no relatively stable core author group in the RRI field. The number of RRI-related research papers published by the Chinese Academy of Sciences was the greatest. The number of publications in the People’s Republic of China had increased dramatically in recent years, but early research in the United States had provided a solid foundation. Additionally, international exchanges and cooperation in RRI field research mainly involve developed countries.

Third, “Waste management from pulp and paper production in the European Union” published by M.C. Monte on waste management was the most cited paper among the 7041 documents. “GREEN and SUSTAINABLE and TECHNOLOGY” and “SCIENCE and TECHNOLOGY—OTHER TOPICS” were the latest emerging subject categories of RRI research. Furthermore, “e-waste”, “reverse logistics” and “lean manufacturing” were RRI emerging research trends, and “carbon emissions”, “policy”, “demolition waste”, “supply chain management” and “compressive strength” had become hot topics.

In general, research in the field of resource recycling industry mainly focused on specific waste recycling (such as “electronic waste”), environmental impact (“carbon emissions”), policy and technical aspects. In the future, research around specific recyclable resources will remain a more active area for many years to come. In addition, researching the resource recycling industry from the perspective of industrial ecosystem coordination may be the direction that scholars should pay attention to in future research.

Author Contributions

Conceptualization, M.W. and P.L.; methodology, X.L.; validation, Z.G., H.C. and M.W.; formal analysis, X.L.; investigation, H.C.; data curation, X.L.; writing—original draft preparation, P.L.; writing—review and editing, M.W.; supervision, X.L.; funding acquisition, M.W.

This work was supported by the Project of the National Social Science Fund of China [No. 17BGL147].

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

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The Crucial Role of Recycling Waste Paper in Environmental Conservation

Introduction:

Amidst growing environmental concerns, recycling waste paper has become a crucial element in the fight against environmental degradation. With global challenges like deforestation, resource depletion, and climate change, the value of recycling waste paper has gained unprecedented importance. This piece delves into the importance of recycling waste paper and its beneficial effects on the environment.

Understanding the Problem: Deforestation and Resource Depletion

Deforestation, often driven by the demand for paper production, contributes significantly to carbon emissions, loss of biodiversity, and disruption of natural ecosystems. Traditional paper production methods rely heavily on virgin wood pulp, leading to the depletion of valuable natural resources. Recycling waste paper offers a sustainable alternative by reducing the need for new wood pulp, subsequently conserving forests and protecting biodiversity.

The Benefits of Recycling Waste Paper:

1. Preserving Trees and Forests: 

Forests are essential to Earth's ecosystem, absorbing carbon dioxide and generating oxygen. Yet, the demand for paper strains these ecosystems. Conventional paper manufacturing involves tree logging, causing deforestation and endangering various flora and fauna.

Recycling waste paper is a powerful strategy to counteract this negative impact. By diverting paper from landfills and reusing it in the production process, the need for fresh wood pulp is significantly reduced. This directly translates to the preservation of trees and forests worldwide.

Impact on Biodiversity: Forests are home to an astonishing array of species, many of which are still undiscovered. When trees are felled for paper production, these habitats are destroyed, and the species that rely on them are displaced or threatened. Recycling waste paper helps mitigate this disruption by decreasing the pressure on forests and allowing them to regenerate naturally.

Carbon Storage: Trees are pivotal in capturing and containing carbon dioxide, a significant greenhouse gas linked to climate change. When forests are cleared for paper, their carbon storage ability is forfeited, and the clearing process emits carbon. Recycling waste paper curbs these emissions by reducing logging and consequent carbon release.

Local and Global Climate Benefits: Intact forests contribute to the overall climate regulation of our planet. They influence temperature and precipitation patterns and help prevent soil erosion. By recycling waste paper, individuals and industries contribute to maintaining these climate-regulating functions, safeguarding both local and global ecosystems.

Sustainable Paper Production: The recycling process also encourages sustainable paper production practices. As the demand for recycled paper increases, industries are motivated to invest in more efficient recycling technologies and reduce their reliance on virgin wood pulp. This shift promotes a circular economy where resources are used more efficiently, waste is minimized, and the impact on forests is reduced.

Educational Opportunities: The act of recycling waste paper can also serve as an educational tool. By engaging in discussions about recycling and its impact on forests, individuals can raise awareness about the importance of conservation. This, in turn, might inspire others to join the movement and take steps towards a more sustainable future.

2. Energy and Water Savings: 

In the pursuit of sustainable living and resource conservation, one of the most compelling reasons to recycle waste paper lies in the significant energy and water savings associated with the recycling process. Unlike traditional paper production, which demands substantial amounts of energy and water, recycling waste paper offers a more efficient and eco-friendly alternative.

Energy Efficiency in Recycling: The process of recycling waste paper requires far less energy compared to producing paper from raw materials. This is due to the fact that recycled paper fibers have already undergone the energy-intensive processes of pulping, bleaching, and refining. As a result, recycling waste paper consumes up to 50% less energy compared to producing paper from virgin pulp.

Reduction in Carbon Emissions: By reducing the energy demand, recycling waste paper helps lower carbon emissions. The energy-intensive stages of paper production, such as wood chipping, pulping, and drying, contribute to greenhouse gas emissions. By opting for recycled paper, individuals and industries indirectly contribute to the reduction of these emissions, thereby mitigating the impact of climate change.

Water Conservation through Recycling: Water scarcity is a pressing global issue, and industries are some of the largest water consumers. Traditional paper production requires vast amounts of water for wood processing, chemical treatment, and other manufacturing stages. In contrast, recycling waste paper uses significantly less water. This water savings is crucial for regions facing water stress and contributes to the overall effort to conserve this precious resource.

Reducing Environmental Pollution: Paper production generates various pollutants, including chemicals used in pulping and wastewater released during the manufacturing process. Recycling waste paper can help reduce the release of these pollutants into the environment. By using pre-processed paper fibers, the recycling process bypasses the need for many of these chemicals, leading to cleaner waterways and healthier ecosystems.

Economic Benefits: Apart from environmental advantages, energy and water-efficient recycling processes also offer economic benefits. Industries can experience reduced operational costs by minimizing energy consumption and optimizing water usage. Additionally, the recycling industry itself generates jobs and stimulates economic growth, contributing positively to local economies.

Consumer Empowerment: By actively choosing products made from recycled materials, consumers send a clear message to industries about their environmental priorities. This demand can encourage more businesses to adopt sustainable practices, thus driving broader shifts towards energy-efficient and eco-friendly production methods.\

3. Diminished Landfill Waste: 

The problem of burgeoning landfills and the resulting environmental and health risks is now a worldwide apprehension. A robust remedy to confront this issue is the adoption of waste paper recycling. This not only eases the landfill strain but also brings forth an array of environmental advantages.

The Landfill Problem : Landfills are essentially massive repositories for waste, including various materials like paper, plastics, and organic matter. These landfills are not only eyesores but also contribute to pollution, groundwater contamination, and the emission of harmful gases like methane—a potent greenhouse gas. With landfills running out of capacity and the need for sustainable waste management practices growing, recycling waste paper emerges as a viable solution.

Diverting Waste from Landfills: Recycling waste paper diverts a significant portion of paper waste from ending up in landfills. When paper is recycled, it is processed and reconstituted into new paper products, extending its useful life and minimizing the need for disposal. By reducing the amount of paper waste in landfills, the pressure on these waste management sites is alleviated, leading to a reduction in environmental hazards.

Methane Emission Reduction: As organic matter in landfills decomposes, it produces methane—a gas with a far greater heat-trapping potential than carbon dioxide. By recycling waste paper, which contains organic content, the volume of organic material in landfills decreases. This, in turn, results in fewer methane emissions, contributing to climate change mitigation efforts.

Longer Landfill Lifespan: The more waste we divert from landfills, the longer these sites can be operational without expanding or creating new ones. Recycling waste paper helps stretch the lifespan of landfills, giving communities more time to transition to more sustainable waste management strategies.

Promoting Resource Efficiency: Landfills are essentially repositories of valuable resources that are discarded rather than reused. By recycling waste paper and other materials, we tap into these resources once again, reducing the demand for new raw materials and lessening the environmental impact of extraction and production.

Community and Aesthetic Improvement: Reducing landfill waste through recycling contributes to cleaner and healthier communities. Landfills are often associated with negative impacts on the local environment, including unsightly views and unpleasant odors. Recycling waste paper can improve the aesthetic appeal of communities and contribute to residents' overall well-being.

Individual and Collective Impact: While recycling waste paper might seem like a small step, its impact is significant when aggregated across individuals, communities, and industries. By making conscious choices to recycle, each person contributes to the larger goal of reducing landfill waste and creating a more sustainable waste management ecosystem.

4. Lower Carbon Footprint: 

In an era where the global community is acutely aware of the need to curb greenhouse gas emissions, recycling waste paper stands out as a practical strategy to achieve a lower carbon footprint. By reducing the energy-intensive processes associated with paper production from virgin materials, recycling contributes directly to mitigating climate change and fostering a more sustainable world.

The Carbon Footprint of Paper Production: Traditional paper production involves a series of energy-intensive steps, including logging, transportation, pulping, bleaching, and drying. These processes collectively contribute to the release of significant amounts of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. This not only exacerbates global warming but also contributes to air pollution and environmental degradation.

Recycling's Impact on Carbon Emissions: Recycling waste paper drastically reduces the carbon emissions associated with paper production. When paper is recycled, it bypasses many of the energy-intensive stages involved in creating paper from raw materials. The recycled paper fibers have already undergone these processes, so the energy required for their transformation into new paper products is significantly lower.

Energy Savings and Emission Reductions: Studies indicate that recycling waste paper can save up to 70% of the energy required for virgin paper production. This substantial reduction in energy consumption directly translates to lower carbon emissions. By choosing products made from recycled paper, consumers contribute to the decreased demand for energy-intensive production methods, subsequently lowering their carbon footprint.

Climate Change Mitigation: The reduction in carbon emissions resulting from recycling waste paper contributes to global efforts to mitigate climate change. As governments, industries, and individuals work towards emission reduction targets, adopting practices like recycling becomes crucial. By minimizing carbon emissions, recycling waste paper helps slow down the pace of climate change and its associated negative impacts.

Promoting Sustainable Consumption: Recycling waste paper also encourages the adoption of a more sustainable lifestyle. When individuals actively choose products made from recycled materials, they create a demand for such products in the market. This, in turn, influences industries to adopt greener practices and invest in technologies that reduce their carbon footprint.

Circular Economy and Carbon Neutrality: The notion of a circular economy, emphasizing resource efficiency and waste reduction, harmonizes with the objectives of recycling waste paper. Through the recycling and reuse of paper items, we partake in a cycle of sustainable resource utilization, mitigating the demand for continuous raw material extraction. This transition in approach marks a pivotal stride toward attaining carbon neutrality and a more vibrant planet.

5. Economic Benefits of Recycling Waste Paper:

While the environmental advantages of recycling waste paper are widely recognized, it's important to highlight that this practice also brings about substantial economic benefits. From job creation to reduced waste management costs, embracing recycling contributes positively to local economies and global sustainability.

Job Creation and Industry Growth: Recycling waste paper fosters the growth of a vibrant and dynamic recycling industry. This industry generates a range of employment opportunities, from collection and sorting to processing and manufacturing. These jobs span various skill levels and contribute to economic stability within communities.

Resource Efficiency and Cost Savings: Recycling waste paper is inherently more resource-efficient than paper production from virgin materials. This efficiency translates to cost savings for industries. By utilizing recycled paper fibers, companies can reduce their consumption of raw materials, energy, and water. These cost reductions contribute to enhanced profitability and economic resilience.

Reduction in Waste Management Costs: As landfills become overcrowded, waste management costs soar. Municipalities and governments spend significant resources on managing, transporting, and disposing of waste. By recycling waste paper, a considerable portion of waste is diverted from landfills, leading to reduced waste management costs and improved allocation of public funds.

Advocacy for the Circular Economy: The circular economy framework strives to extend resource usage and extract optimum value from them. Recycling waste paper is integral to this framework. As the appetite for recycled materials rises, industries are motivated to pioneer inventive techniques for reclaiming and treating waste paper. This transition not only advances ecological sustainability but also propels economic progress through innovation.

Market Demand for Recycled Products: Consumer preferences are increasingly leaning towards sustainable and eco-friendly products. This shift in demand is prompting industries to incorporate recycled materials into their production processes. By choosing products made from recycled paper, consumers create a market demand that supports the growth of the recycling industry and encourages businesses to adopt greener practices.

Investment in Green Technologies: The growing interest in environmental sustainability is driving technological innovation. The recycling industry is no exception. Advancements in recycling technologies, such as improved paper de-inking processes and more efficient sorting systems, result in higher-quality recycled materials. These innovations attract investments that drive industry progress and contribute to economic advancement.

Environmental Cost Savings: Economic benefits derived from recycling waste paper extend beyond immediate financial gains. By reducing the strain on natural resources, conserving energy, and curbing greenhouse gas emissions, recycling contributes to avoiding the long-term economic costs associated with environmental degradation, such as healthcare expenses due to pollution-related illnesses.

How Individuals Can Make a Difference?

Recycling waste paper is a collective effort that involves individuals, businesses, and governments. Individuals can contribute by:

1.    Segregating Waste: Properly segregating waste at home or in the workplace ensures that paper waste is separated from other types of waste, making recycling more effective.

2.    Participating in Recycling Programs: Many communities offer curbside recycling programs that collect waste paper. Being part of such programs can simplify the recycling process for individuals.

3.    Choosing Recycled Products: Opting for products made from recycled paper helps create demand for recycled materials, further supporting the recycling industry.

Conclusion: The Holistic Value of Recycling Waste Paper

In essence, recycling waste paper goes beyond environmental benefits, offering economic advantages, carbon footprint reduction, and waste management solutions. It's a tangible way for individuals and industries to drive positive change, contributing to a sustainable future for all.  

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119 Recycling Essay Topics & Examples

☝️ 12 top recycling research topics, 🏆 best recycling topics & essay examples, 🔎 good recycling essay topics, ⭐ simple & easy recycling essay titles, ❓ research questions about recycling.

Recycling essays are helpful for letting you understand the scope of the pollution issue and the methods humanity can use to reduce its effects and move to safe practices.

Various international organizations are concerned about the topic, and expressions of support for initiatives to recycle waste include the institution of holidays such as the World Environment Day.

There are various ideas about the measures that can be taken to protect the environment, which you can use as recycling essay hooks, but not all of them are viable, as money and technological concerns interfere with the process of best taking out waste strongly.

To create an interesting and powerful essay, you will want to introduce a solid structure that will add clarity and purpose to your writing.

The act of creating a structure begins with the creation of an introduction, a section where you will familiarize the reader with the context of the essay and create a thesis statement.

Try to avoid mentioning facts that are not common knowledge and avoid using citations, as you are trying to give a general overview of the field as you see it.

Approach the thesis statement with care, as it will be at the center of your essay, and all of your arguments should support its idea or answer its question. As such, the introduction will set the direction of your essay, providing the first significant element of its structure.

The next step should be the writing of an outline, a chart of how you will select topics to discuss and organize them in the essay. To construct it, you will first want to write down all of the different concepts you see as applicable to the thesis as recycling essay titles.

Then, eliminate them or fold them into other headings until you have a sufficiently small number remaining that you can elaborate on each one within the essay’s limitations. The last part is to organize them in a set order so that they follow some logical structure and support each other.

You can then use the outline elements as titles for different sections of your essay. With this, the basic structure should be complete, and you can proceed to write your essay. Here are a few tips to help you as you work:

• Use transition words to improve the flow of your essay and help it appear as a single stream instead of a collection of disconnected points. Examples of transition words include also, however, therefore, first of all, accordingly, and specifically.
• Try to begin and end your paragraphs with connecting sentences that establish a connection with the previous and next blocks of text. The rest of the paragraph will be the body that presents your arguments, mirroring the layout of the overall essay.
• Be sure to link every point you make to your thesis in an explicit manner. The approach improves the structure of your essay by making it clear how everything you say is related to your central message.
• Finish the paper with a conclusion that will sum up the information provided in the essay. Do not introduce any new data or reasoning that was not presented before in your recycling essay conclusions.
• Finish the paragraph with final remarks that describe your perception of the findings and the future directions you suggest.

If you require more help in your writing, find recycling essay topics and other useful samples at IvyPanda!

• Recycling in Japan vs. the US: Compare and Contrast.
• The Benefits of Recycled Waste Management.
• How Can We Reuse Glass in Construction?
• Medical Waste During the Covid-19 Pandemic.
• The Glass Disposal System in the US.
• The Pressing Issue of Environmental Protection.
• New Ways to Dispose of Radioactive Waste.
• Reasons to Continue Using Plastic Bottles.
• How to Improve Personal Protective Equipment.
• Disposable Face Masks: Impact on Ecology.
• Pros and Cons of Plastic Bags.
• How Recycling Can Influence the Economy.
• Recycling Problems and Its Solutions When comparing the past and present world, it is not wrong for one to argue that there are likelihoods of extinction of all living species if pollution continues with the present rate.
• Water Recycling Recycled water is obtained from waste water and contaminated water that has been subjected to thorough treatment to ensure that it is proper for use for different purposes.
• Aluminium Cans Recycling The process of remelting the cans is much less expensive and less damaging to the environment than making new ones.”Creating new containers and making new aluminium involves electrolysis of aluminium oxide, which has to be […]
• Food Waste Recycling Benefits Through the analysis of Gupta and Gangopadhyay, it was noted that food waste was one of the leading preventable contributors towards the sheer amount of trash that winds up in many of the today’s landfills.
• Importance of Recycling in Conservation of the Environment This piece of work looks at the different aspects associated with the process of recycling with much emphasis being given to the history of recycling and the facts associated with recycling process.
• “The Reign of Recycling” Article by Tierney With the growth and development of technologies and the industrial industry, the sphere of waste and garbage processing began to develop.
• Plastic Waste Materials Recycling Recycling of plastic wastes reduces the effects of plastics on the environment and promotes economic gain. It notes that we cannot sustain the current trends observed in plastics production, usages, and disposal due to the […]
• Ontario Waste Recycling Policy To understand the effectiveness of Ontario’s Waste Diversion Act, 2002, the Environment Accounts and Statistics Division of Statistics Canada has become a critical body for collecting, analyzing, and providing trends and practices on waste management […]
• Management Recycling of the Waste The requirement of this assignment was to collect and recycle different kinds of household items from the trash. In the first week five plastic cups were collected, which were kept in the storage area.
• Economics of Recycling: Benefits and Costs This is done with the intention of reducing the wastage of wasteful materials and also to try and avoid the excessive use of fresh raw materials and the reduction of energy use, environmental pollution, and […]
• Recycling in Campus The objective is to minimize the potential waste of valuable resources. It also helps in the management of the use of new raw materials.
• Recycling Practices Among Latinos in the U.S. I wish to express my most profound gratitude to Norman Nimmo, the Municipal Recycling Coordinator for the City of Lawrence, for allowing me the opportunity to meet him to discuss the town’s new waste management […]
• Recycling Tires in the UAE The purpose of this study is to prove that the recycling of used tires can be financially and environmentally beneficial for the UAE.
• Best Buy’s Recycling Service as Form Utility Due to the focus on the requirements and demands of the audience, particularly the plight to make the process of recycling more accessible for the general population, Best Buy’s new service is a prime example […]
• Public Speaking: Why Recycling Is Important The intention of such a program is to make “recycling of lead batteries easier and more profitable to recycle would lead to more extensive recycling programs.
• Is Recycling Good for the Environment? Recycling is good for the environment and should be included in the daily routine of any person that cares about the planet and the future of our children.
• Plastic Bags, Effects, Recycling, and Reusability People have to think where the rest of the bags are and understand that this part of plastic continues making harm to nature.
• Does Recycling Harm the Environment? Recycling is the activity that causes the most damage to the environment. Summarizing the above, it is necessary to state that waste recycling has a negative connotation in relation to nature and the environment.
• The Breakdown and Recycling of Neurotransmitters Finally, drugs can also prevent the onset of action potentials by blocking the neural activity of the central and peripheral nervous systems.
• Recycling in Florida: Why Is It Important? As a way of cleaning the environment and helping the community, Florida has reintroduced the current recycling era, which began with the passing of the Florida Legislature.
• Mandatory Recycling Program in Murray Recycling solves this problem because it lessens the quantity of waste released into the environment, conserves valuable space, and minimizes the likelihood of health issues spreading in the city. Door-to-door collection, which aims for high […]
• Public Relations Campaign for Hewlett-Packard’s Recycling Program in Britain Part of the activities of this program is the sensitization of consumers on e-waste and the recycling of computers and their components.
• Newspaper Collection and General Recycling GR has a higher responsibility for quality due to the specifics of the general disposal and specifies the quantity and class of the material before collection.
• “Recycling in America Is a Mess” by Kimmelman It discusses the current situation with waste disposal in the United States, recycling of plastic, and emphasizes the problems in modern American society concerning these issues.
• Ms. Clare’s Interview on a Recycling Program She took the initiative to have programs that aimed to inform people of the importance of recycling.Ms. Clare was not happy with the pollution in her city, thus prompting her to start a program to […]
• Should Recycling Be Mandatory? To summarize, since recycling provides humanity with efficient solutions for the problem of energy consumption and business entities can be unethical in this aspect, it is essential to make recycling mandatory.
• Reign of Recycling and Waste Management Problem Despite the established opinion about the benefits of recycling, John Tierney, the author of the article, debates the advantages of this process.
• Attitude Towards Recycling During COVID-19 The topic of the research will be directly related to the field of environmental issues through the prism of the current global conditions.
• Plastic Recycling at a University: Effects of Number and Location of Bins In summary, in the article “Effects of number and location of bins on plastic recycling at a university,” the authors O’Connor et al.discuss the relevance of the practices that aim to enhance adherence to the […]
• Recycling Plastic Waste as Class Activity After summarizing the different types of plastics and their composition, students held discussions to describe the various uses of plastic, particularly in packaging.
• Aluminum Can Recycling: Eco-Efficiency The drawn cup is moved to another machine where a sleeve is used to hold the cup in a specific position; punch is then used to redraw the cup to attain a diameter of 6.6cm.
• Fabric Recycling: Environmental Collapse With the development of the textile industry and trends in fast fashion, cotton clothing is no longer a durable item in the consumer’s closet.
• Proper Recycling of E-Waste in the Southern New Jersey Community The essay will specifically look at e-waste management in the US. In particular, the essay will analyze the Southern New Jersey community in regards to the same.
• Recycling Plastic: Exploration of Opportunities With all the useful properties of recycled plastics, it is possible to produce high-quality goods that are sustainable and convenient in use.
• Paper Recycling: Environmental and Business Issues In order for paper to be properly recycled, the several types of paper must be separated because the different types of paper must be used for different types of products. This is the most common […]
• S&S Recycling Finance Options To choose the right financial strategy for the S&S Recycling Company, which is going to offer its litter-picking services for the neighborhood, as well as raw materials for furniture-producing companies, a careful evaluation of the […]
• Managing Natural Resources: Recycling At the same time, the discussion explains the benefits, which have the likelihood of attainment in recycling. Burning of papers promotes a higher level of forest and tree degradation in the process of production of […]
• The City of Adelaide Green Waste Recycling Centre The Green Waste Recycling Centre features in the city of Adelaide. The Adelaide Green Waste Recycling Centre is an initiative of the local government authority of the Adelaide City of Australia.
• Kuwait: Recycling of Carbon Dioxide Every educated and articulate opinion leader accepts the conventional wisdom that the unabated emission of greenhouse gases is slowly choking the earth, preventing heat from dissipating into space. For perspective, the chief “greenhouse gas” is […]
• Electronic Waste and Recycling Fees The purpose of this paper is to examine the consequences of e-waste disposal in various fields and social groups, the electronics recycling fee issue for North Dakota, and other measures to develop the current situation.
• Advanced Environmental Recycling Technologies Analysis AERT was established in the United States of America in the year 1988, and operates through a network of manufacturing plants located in the states of Oklahoma, Texas and several facilities in the state of […]
• Electronic Waste Management and Recycling In this modern era, going green is the main concern of companies and thus a stance for competition for the majority.
• Ensuring Healthy and Clean Environment: Importance of Recycling Ensuring that we have air to breathe, water to drink and that we do not create a planet which becomes the very cause for the end of the human race.
• Recycling Is Not Garbage The plastic recycling is the most common and the public is actively involved in collection of the materials to be recycled.
• Realizing the Emerging Importance of Recycling Also, surveying the data of where the trash end up around the world in Table 1, we can see that maximum number of trash goes to landfills and where space is a problem, incineration is […]
• Augusta Disposal & Recycling Inc.: Job Redesign and Workplace Rewards The position of the division excludes self-management in a way that the workers are not responsible for any decisions and consists merely of following the initiations of the superior personnel.
• Recycling the End of Life Vehicles This report examines the impacts of the insinuation of this legalization with respect to the design of the vehicle components in a vehicle to look at what is being prepared by the industry to meet […]
• Recycling Batteries: An In-Depth Look The first point is about the environmental impacts of the non-recycled used batteries and how these impacts affect people in their daily life. Batteries can be of two general types: the primary battery and the […]
• Recycling Plastic Packaging as an Enterprise For this purpose, two types of personalities that contribute to the waste rate most will have to be selected and analysed.
• Electronics Recycling Law of Illinois The law of 2017 defined the procedure for the work of companies engaged in the production of electronic equipment and established legislation that calls for the disposal of hazardous waste.
• Tri-County Recycling Project Analysis Therefore, by voicing the concern and pointing at the obvious flaws in the current design of the state policy towards waste management, the Tri-County Project should clearly be viewed as a major foot forward in […]
• Waste Management in Food Processing: Different Types of Wastes and Recycling Ways Even though countries use a variety of ways to manage waste, the research suggests that they are not sufficiently effective and the accumulating waste poses a danger to the well-being of the population.
• Ablution Water Recycling in Mosques To ensure a safe and fulfilling life for humans and animals on our planet, it is critical to preserve freshwater and avoid wasting it. Water is a critical element that is essential for the life […]
• Interface Inc.’s Products and Recycling Strategies Waste reduction is one of the major issues to solve as the size of landfills is alarming, and the biodiversity of the planet is in danger.
• Innovative Recycling Competition: Educating the Public However, for the initiative to be successful, it is pivotal to draw a sufficient number of participants to take part in the project.
• Improving Recycling Behavior in Dubai: Group Project This part of the proposal gives a detailed analysis of the first initiative that is expected to form the backbone of the final research project. A powerful plan will be used to implement the proposed […]
• Recycling Greywater for Irrigation and Landscaping Applications In the face of the current water shortage, there is a need to safeguard clean water resources by reusing water. The purpose of this project is to develop a greywater recycling system for landscape irrigation […]
• Sustainable Energy: Recycling of Cars in Germany The core theme of the paper is the comparative analysis of steel and aluminum and the advantages of these materials from the recycling perspective.
• Car Recycling: Direct and Indirect Energy Use It is also suggested that one of the potential dangers of lack of attention to how minimizing the weight of a car can reduce energy consumption and improve various aspects of the recycling process is […]
• Waste Recycling Technologies in Dubai The purpose of the current research is to investigate the trend of recycling in Dubai. To evaluate the statistical relationship between the monthly household income and the frequency of recycling for a household.
• Balance of Payments and Petrodollar Recycling The balance of payments in a country demonstrate the records of all the economic transactions that take place between the residents in a particular country and those living in other parts of the world for […]
• Dumfries Recycling Plant’s Sustainability This matter will help underline the importance of recycling in the society and attract the attention of the governmental authorities. In this case, being ‘green’ pertains to the characteristic of a product, which tends to […]
• Aluminum Recycling in Six Sigma Study in Kentucky By informing the readers about this, the case teaches us to understand the significant role of aluminum recycling in benefiting the economy of the US.
• Plastic Wastes Recycling Plant in the United Arab Emirates Sustainability of a project depends on the ability of the management unit to understand the environmental factors that may pose any form of threat to its normal operations.
• The Inventory Plan: PET-bottles Recycling For this reason, I want to point out that the most important steps, which the goal includes, are considered to be production of the item materials, transportation of the product, the product fabrication and postconsumer […]
• The Cost-Effectiveness of Recycling Plastic Most of the manufacturers have always considered the manufacturing of new plastic products to be more cost-effective as compared to the recycling of used materials.
• S&S Recycling: A Business Plan S&S Recycling is a company that collects recycled material and offers it to the companies that produce their goods from recycled resources.
• Recycling Company Risks and Opportunities A close proximity to the key target customers and a reasonable pricing policy coupled with the quality of the product will provide a smooth ground for the organization to commence its growth.
• Pontrelli Recycling Inc’s Project Management The first amongst the planning activities is the fact that project managers must comprehend the firm’s economic goals and other objectives to enable them align project operations to financial goals.
• Recycling in the UAE Thus, the selection of the materials is to go through several steps: An engineer is to consider all materials and find out which materials can be used according to the design requirements; The materials’ attributes […]
• Project Management: A Platform Project for Waste Recycling in SMEs and Public Companies Seeing how the manufacturing process includes the location of the resources and the transportation of the given resources to the end customer and, in fact, cannot be viewed outside the manufacturing process, it will be […]
• Nuclear Energy Usage and Recycling The resulting energy is used to power machinery and generate heat for processing purposes. The biggest problem though is that of energy storage, which is considered to be the most crucial requirement for building a […]
• Recycling Firm Business Plan The business will be called “Greensipi” – a plastic recycling firm that will be responsible for number of products and services.
• To Use or not to Reuse: A Case for Recycling Since getting people to reduce the amount of trash they produce may be hard to achieve, recycling is the most feasible solution to the problem.
• Recycling of Wastewater for Agricultural Use in Arid Areas Given that in these arid areas water is a rare commodity, recycling of wastewaters has been considered as one of the ways that can be used to increase the amount of water for irrigation for […]
• The Dilemma Surrounding Recycling One of the arguments used by recycling supporters is that the government takes full responsibility of the funding of recycling activities.”Government supports lots of services that the free market would not provide, such as the […]
• Recycling’s Management and Potential Throughout the process of ten weeks various types of plastic materials had been collected and stored so that when we resell these items after ten long weeks, we are able to easily tell the difference […]
• What Are the Seven Benefits of Recycling?
• How Can the Recycling of Concrete Waste Be Increased in the UK?
• What Is the Future of Recycling?
• Does Teaching School Children About Recycling Reduce Household Waste?
• Why Reducing and Reusing Are Much Better Than Recycling?
• How Does Recycling Affect the Environment?
• How Can Waste Recycling Help Overcome an Emerging Threat to the Environment?
• How Does Recycling Work?
• Are You Needlessly Recycling Emotional Pain?
• Why Is Recycling So Important?
• Does Recycling Improve Information Usefulness of Income?
• Why Should Recycling Not Be Banned?
• How Does Recycling Effect the Environment?
• Are Recycling People Also Saving?
• What Are the Pros and Cons of Recycling?
• Why Recycling Helps Solve Climate Change Issues?
• How Does the Environment Benefit From Recycling?
• How Can Communities and Governments Encourage Recycling
• Should Recycling Used Materials Necessary?
• What Are the Main Benefits of Recycling?
• Can Public Construction and Demolition Data Describe Trends in Building Material Recycling?
• Does Recycling Benefit the Environment?
• Does Waste Management Policy Crowd Out Social and Moral Motives for Recycling?
• Why Did Sewage Recycling Schemes Claim a Great Deal of Attention in Mid-Victorian Britain?
• What Is the Biggest Problem With Recycling?
• Why Is Recycling No Longer Profitable?
• What Explains the Intention to Bring Mobile Phones for Recycling?
• Are Our Recycling Efforts Worth the Trouble?
• How Recycling Reduces Greenhouse Effect?
• What Will Happen if We Don’t Recycle?
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Research Objectives: The Compass of Your Study

Table of contents

• 1 Definition and Purpose of Setting Clear Research Objectives
• 2 How Research Objectives Fit into the Overall Research Framework
• 3 Types of Research Objectives
• 4 Aligning Objectives with Research Questions and Hypotheses
• 5 Role of Research Objectives in Various Research Phases
• 6.1 Key characteristics of well-defined research objectives
• 6.2 Step-by-Step Guide on How to Formulate Both General and Specific Research Objectives
• 6.3 How to Know When Your Objectives Need Refinement
• 7 Research Objectives Examples in Different Fields
• 8 Conclusion

Embarking on a research journey without clear objectives is like navigating the sea without a compass. This article delves into the essence of establishing precise research objectives, serving as the guiding star for your scholarly exploration.

We will unfold the layers of how the objective of study not only defines the scope of your research but also directs every phase of the research process, from formulating research questions to interpreting research findings. By bridging theory with practical examples, we aim to illuminate the path to crafting effective research objectives that are both ambitious and attainable. Let’s chart the course to a successful research voyage, exploring the significance, types, and formulation of research paper objectives.

Definition and Purpose of Setting Clear Research Objectives

Defining the research objectives includes which two tasks? Research objectives are clear and concise statements that outline what you aim to achieve through your study. They are the foundation for determining your research scope, guiding your data collection methods, and shaping your analysis. The purpose of research proposal and setting clear objectives in it is to ensure that your research efforts are focused and efficient, and to provide a roadmap that keeps your study aligned with its intended outcomes.

To define the research objective at the outset, researchers can avoid the pitfalls of scope creep, where the study’s focus gradually broadens beyond its initial boundaries, leading to wasted resources and time. Clear objectives facilitate communication with stakeholders, such as funding bodies, academic supervisors, and the broader academic community, by succinctly conveying the study’s goals and significance. Furthermore, they help in the formulation of precise research questions and hypotheses, making the research process more systematic and organized. Yet, it is not always easy. For this reason, PapersOwl is always ready to help. Lastly, clear research objectives enable the researcher to critically assess the study’s progress and outcomes against predefined benchmarks, ensuring the research stays on track and delivers meaningful results.

How Research Objectives Fit into the Overall Research Framework

Research objectives are integral to the research framework as the nexus between the research problem, questions, and hypotheses. They translate the broad goals of your study into actionable steps, ensuring every aspect of your research is purposefully aligned towards addressing the research problem. This alignment helps in structuring the research design and methodology, ensuring that each component of the study is geared towards answering the core questions derived from the objectives. Creating such a difficult piece may take a lot of time. If you need it to be accurate yet fast delivered, consider getting professional research paper writing help whenever the time comes. It also aids in the identification and justification of the research methods and tools used for data collection and analysis, aligning them with the objectives to enhance the validity and reliability of the findings.

Furthermore, by setting clear objectives, researchers can more effectively evaluate the impact and significance of their work in contributing to existing knowledge. Additionally, research objectives guide literature review, enabling researchers to focus their examination on relevant studies and theoretical frameworks that directly inform their research goals.

Types of Research Objectives

In the landscape of research, setting objectives is akin to laying down the tracks for a train’s journey, guiding it towards its destination. Constructing these tracks involves defining two main types of objectives: general and specific. Each serves a unique purpose in guiding the research towards its ultimate goals, with general objectives providing the broad vision and specific objectives outlining the concrete steps needed to fulfill that vision. Together, they form a cohesive blueprint that directs the focus of the study, ensuring that every effort contributes meaningfully to the overarching research aims.

• General objectives articulate the overarching goals of your study. They are broad, setting the direction for your research without delving into specifics. These objectives capture what you wish to explore or contribute to existing knowledge.
• Specific objectives break down the general objectives into measurable outcomes. They are precise, detailing the steps needed to achieve the broader goals of your study. They often correspond to different aspects of your research question , ensuring a comprehensive approach to your study.

To illustrate, consider a research project on the impact of digital marketing on consumer behavior. A general objective might be “to explore the influence of digital marketing on consumer purchasing decisions.” Specific objectives could include “to assess the effectiveness of social media advertising in enhancing brand awareness” and “to evaluate the impact of email marketing on customer loyalty.”

Aligning Objectives with Research Questions and Hypotheses

The harmony between what research objectives should be, questions, and hypotheses is critical. Objectives define what you aim to achieve; research questions specify what you seek to understand, and hypotheses predict the expected outcomes.

This alignment ensures a coherent and focused research endeavor. Achieving it necessitates a thoughtful consideration of how each component interrelates, ensuring that the objectives are not only ambitious but also directly answerable through the research questions and testable via the hypotheses. This interconnectedness facilitates a streamlined approach to the research process, enabling researchers to systematically address each aspect of their study in a logical sequence. Moreover, it enhances the clarity and precision of the research, making it easier for peers and stakeholders to grasp the study’s direction and potential contributions.

Role of Research Objectives in Various Research Phases

Throughout the research process, objectives guide your choices and strategies – from selecting the appropriate research design and methods to analyzing data and interpreting results. They are the criteria against which you measure the success of your study. In the initial stages, research objectives inform the selection of a topic, helping to narrow down a broad area of interest into a focused question that can be explored in depth. During the methodology phase, they dictate the type of data needed and the best methods for obtaining that data, ensuring that every step taken is purposeful and aligned with the study’s goals. As the research progresses, objectives provide a framework for analyzing the collected data, guiding the researcher in identifying patterns, drawing conclusions, and making informed decisions.

Crafting Effective Research Objectives

The effective objective of research is pivotal in laying the groundwork for a successful investigation. These objectives clarify the focus of your study and determine its direction and scope. Ensuring that your objectives are well-defined and aligned with the SMART criteria is crucial for setting a strong foundation for your research.

Key characteristics of well-defined research objectives

Well-defined research objectives are characterized by the SMART criteria – Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound. Specific objectives clearly define what you plan to achieve, eliminating any ambiguity. Measurable objectives allow you to track progress and assess the outcome. Achievable objectives are realistic, considering the research sources and time available. Relevant objectives align with the broader goals of your field or research question. Finally, Time-bound objectives have a clear timeline for completion, adding urgency and a schedule to your work.

Step-by-Step Guide on How to Formulate Both General and Specific Research Objectives

So lets get to the part, how to write research objectives properly?

• Understand the issue or gap in existing knowledge your study aims to address.
• Gain insights into how similar challenges have been approached to refine your objectives.
• Articulate the broad goal of research based on your understanding of the problem.
• Detail the specific aspects of your research, ensuring they are actionable and measurable.

How to Know When Your Objectives Need Refinement

Your objectives of research may require refinement if they lack clarity, feasibility, or alignment with the research problem. If you find yourself struggling to design experiments or methods that directly address your objectives, or if the objectives seem too broad or not directly related to your research question, it’s likely time for refinement. Additionally, objectives in research proposal that do not facilitate a clear measurement of success indicate a need for a more precise definition. Refinement involves ensuring that each objective is specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound, enhancing your research’s overall focus and impact.

Research Objectives Examples in Different Fields

The application of research objectives spans various academic disciplines, each with its unique focus and methodologies. To illustrate how the objectives of the study guide a research paper across different fields, here are some research objective examples:

• In Health Sciences , a research aim may be to “determine the efficacy of a new vaccine in reducing the incidence of a specific disease among a target population within one year.” This objective is specific (efficacy of a new vaccine), measurable (reduction in disease incidence), achievable (with the right study design and sample size), relevant (to public health), and time-bound (within one year).
• In Environmental Studies , the study objectives could be “to assess the impact of air pollution on urban biodiversity over a decade.” This reflects a commitment to understanding the long-term effects of human activities on urban ecosystems, emphasizing the need for sustainable urban planning.
• In Economics , an example objective of a study might be “to analyze the relationship between fiscal policies and unemployment rates in developing countries over the past twenty years.” This seeks to explore macroeconomic trends and inform policymaking, highlighting the role of economic research study in societal development.

These examples of research objectives describe the versatility and significance of research objectives in guiding scholarly inquiry across different domains. By setting clear, well-defined objectives, researchers can ensure their studies are focused and impactful and contribute valuable knowledge to their respective fields.

Defining research studies objectives and problem statement is not just a preliminary step, but a continuous guiding force throughout the research journey. These goals of research illuminate the path forward and ensure that every stride taken is meaningful and aligned with the ultimate goals of the inquiry. Whether through the meticulous application of the SMART criteria or the strategic alignment with research questions and hypotheses, the rigor in crafting and refining these objectives underscores the integrity and relevance of the research. As scholars venture into the vast terrains of knowledge, the clarity, and precision of their objectives serve as beacons of light, steering their explorations toward discoveries that advance academic discourse and resonate with the broader societal needs.

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Coastal cities need to be better built to survive our warming future.

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Three new research papers all point to a worrying conclusion

Streets are submerged in floodwaters brought by typhoon Megi in Xiamen, eastern China's Fujian ... [+] province on September 28, 2016 (Photo credit: STR/AFP via Getty Images)

I hadn’t planned to write about urban flooding in this column. I’ve touched on the subject several times in the past ( e.g.1 , e.g.2 ), and will no doubt return to it again in future. But then I came across three open-access papers, all published this week, within a couple of days of each other. They have no authors in common, they come from disparate research areas, and each one is found in a different journal. But, together, they paint a worrying picture of the threats to coastal urban landscapes in our warming world.

The first thing to say is that the overwhelming majority of the world’s cities are found within 100 km of a coastline. The exact statistics on this vary, but it’s generally agreed that somewhere in the range of 50-60% of the global population can be considered “coastal”, with as many as 347 million people living on low-lying coastal land, less than 2 m above sea level. This makes cities particularly vulnerable to sea level rise and the increasing severity of storms. And yet, very few of them have been built to withstand such events. Instead, most have grown over decades or centuries, with little (or no) attention paid to their inherent vulnerability, both in terms of the inevitable damage to homes and infrastructure and the loss of human life that comes with major floods.

You don’t need to look very hard to find recent news headlines reporting on tragic flooding events. Cities as diverse as Zhengzhou , New York , Auckland , Orenburg , and Mumbai have all been badly hit in the past couple of years. In all cases, the impact of those floods has been worsened by the design of those cities and the impermeable materials used in their construction. It looks set to get worse.

NANCHANG, CHINA - APRIL 02: People ride on a waterlogged road in rain on April 2, 2024 in Nanchang, ... [+] Jiangxi Province of China. Strong winds, thunderstorms and heavy rainfall struck Nanchang since Sunday. (Photo by Liu Lixin/China News Service/VCG via Getty Images)

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The first paper of the trio is from researchers at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University. They have shown that concurrent heatwave and extreme sea level rise (CHWESL) events are getting significantly more common in coastal areas. A CHWESL event is when a heatwave and short-term flooding happen in the same location at the same time. A well-documented example of this was in August 2021 , when extreme flooding struck the Mediterranean region while local temperatures reached 48.8°C.

Looking at ocean, weather and climate data from 1979 to 2017, this paper’s co-authors found that close to 88% of the world’s coastlines experienced such an event during that period, with tropical coastlines experiencing a disproportionate fraction (70.3%) of those events. There was, however, a marked difference between the first and the second half of that study window. When considering the number of CHWESL days within a year, they found an average increase of 3.72 days during 1998–2017 compared to 1979–1998. In other words, they’ve been happening more frequently in recent years.

The authors discovered a significant association between heatwave intensity and the probability of a CHWESL event occurring. For every 1% more intense a heatwave gets (i.e. increasingly hot and humid conditions), we see a 2% increase in the likelihood of heatwaves that are concurrent with extreme sea levels. It seems that more intense heatwaves – an important climate change indicator – may amplify the risk of a CHWESL event happening.

The final part of the study involved looking ahead; projecting what might happen under different climate change conditions. In the worst case, under the highest emissions scenario (known as SSP5-85 ), the authors say that global coastal areas could experience, on average, 38 days of CHWESL conditions per year between now and 2049.

A man watches photographs waves as they hit the seawall in Seaton, South East Cornwall. Picture ... [+] date: Thursday March 28, 2024. (Photo by Matt Keeble/PA Images via Getty Images)

‘Natural’ defenses?

The second paper on my list explores the options for defending our coastal cities from flooding events. Led by the University of Tokyo, the study looked at four classes of defense – natural environments (e.g. mangroves, seagrass beds, coral reefs, and tidal marshes), soft measures (e.g. sand dune nourishment, or other options that restore or enrich natural systems); hard measures (e.g. levees and concrete sea walls); and hybrid systems that combine hard and soft elements.

The authors reviewed more than 300 research papers and other high-quality publications (e.g. conference proceedings and doctoral dissertations) to carry out a meta-analysis on each of these coastal adaptation options. They wanted to compare their performance on three metrics:

• Risk reduction – the reduction in wave height and energy that the option provided, plus any measurable impact it had on the shoreline’s stability.
• Climate change mitigation – the ability of the adaptation option to store carbon and reduce GHG emissions.
• Cost-effectiveness over a 20-year period – the monetary costs and benefits of the adaptation option.

Lead author Lam Thi Mai Huynh explained their findings, “Our results indicate that among all coastal defense options in lower-risk areas, hybrid measures provide the highest risk reduction. Hybrid measures can harness the advantages of both hard and soft measures. They provide the immediacy of an engineered barrier while largely maintaining the ecological functionality of a permeable vegetated zone.”

Unsurprisingly, in terms of storing carbon, natural habitats were found to be the most effective option. Soft and hybrid measures were more cost-effective than hard measures, but all coastal defense options had a positive economic return over a 20-year period.

Another major paper published just last month in Nature suggests that building defenses may not be sufficient to avoid a flooded future. Led by Virginia Tech researchers, the study examined the flooding potential for 32 major US coastal cities. The team showed that even when taking coastal-defense structures into account, the combination of land subsidence and sea-level rise is putting an increasing proportion of the population at risk.

The authors say that if no additional preventative steps are taken, 1 in 50 people (up to 500,000 individuals) in US coastal cities could experience flooding within the next 30 years, leading to damages that could exceed $100 billion. The same paper showed that in many of these cities, a disproportionate share of the damage will be shouldered by minority and low-income groups.

Pedestrians make their way across a street flooded by rains brought by Typhoon Haiyan in Shangsi, in ... [+] southwest China Guangxi province on November 11, 2013. (Photo by STR/AFP via Getty Images)

Pedestrian-safe streets

The third paper published this week is a bit more niche. It asked one specific question – how does urban design contribute to pedestrian safety during a flooding event? Published in the journal Physics of Fluids , the study combines experiment and simulation.

They started by installing a 3D-printed, human-shaped dummy inside a flume, or flow tank. By varying the speed of the water and wind (generated by a fan) rushing past the dummy, and measuring its response, they could identify the flood and wind conditions that would cause an average pedestrian to fall over, rendering them vulnerable.

They then developed computer simulations with different city block patterns, street widths, and building dimensions and shapes, to assess the configurations that kept those dangerous conditions to a minimum. The goal was to identify what urban form factors could be altered to better protect pedestrians during extreme weather events.

They found that when buildings are arranged in a line, they provide a ‘zone of safety’ by blocking some of the water and wind. In contrast, buildings that were staggered or offset produced ‘danger zones’, where windspeeds are accelerated (via the Venturi effect ) and floodwaters become unstable.

Changing the shape of the building also had an impact on pedestrian safety. For example, buildings with rounded or recessed corners produced much smaller areas of ‘extreme risk’ in their wake, compared to buildings with 90° corners. The same was true for triangular buildings. This suggests that non-square buildings might lead to significantly safer conditions for pedestrians during a flood event.

Their final finding was that different building height arrangements can help mitigate the negative impacts of wind, but conclusions on this were less straightforward, as author Zhong-Fan Zhu explained, “In some cases, the floodwater does not cause pedestrian instability, but adding the wind force will lead to a dangerous situation. However, in other cases, the wind will help to maintain pedestrian stability and protect against floodwater. It seems like that wind is like a ‘double-edged sword.’”

What these papers point to is a future that few cities are fully prepared for. One in which urban flooding becomes more frequent and intense, putting a growing number of urbanites at risk. The good news is that we already know exactly how to avoid this fate – by urgently reducing our reliance on fossil fuels, investing in lower-impact, more permeable urban form, shoring up our hard coastal defenses, and restoring those that protect us naturally. So, what’s stopping us?

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How Do You Get Rid of Shredded Paper? Think Twice Before Recycling.

By Melanie Pinola

Melanie Pinola is a writer focused on home-office gear. To find the best paper shredder, she has shredded enough junk mail to fill several bathtubs.

It turns out, I’ve been recycling all wrong. After the latest round of testing nine paper shredders , I thought I’d put the resulting 65-plus gallons of shredded paper out for recycling. But when I asked my local sanitation department if it would prefer the shreds in clear bags or cardboard boxes, the representatives said neither.

Instead, they instructed me to toss the shredded paper in with the trash.

But wait: Isn’t shredded paper still paper, and thus recyclable? Isn’t throwing away shredded paper wasteful? The answer to both questions is, well, kind of. Here’s what you need to know about the best way to dispose of shredded paper.

Check your local guidelines

The American Forest & Paper Association confirms that shredded paper is indeed recyclable. But whether shredded paper is acceptable for recycling in your town or city is another story.

So it’s best to double-check with your local sanitation or public-works department to see what you’re supposed to do with your shredded paper. Local guidelines vary—and those guidelines may or not be on the publicly accessible website or in published brochures.

For example, San Franciscans are encouraged to either place shredded paper in a stapled brown paper bag labeled “SHREDDED” or compost the shredded paper. But if you live in Rhode Island, shredded paper isn’t accepted for mixed-recycling pickup; residents can compost their shreds, throw them in the trash, or drop off shredded paper at a disposal site in Johnston, Rhode Island.

Why shredded paper isn’t always accepted for recycling

Shredded paper can be a disaster for some recycling facilities. “Shredded bits of paper are too small to be properly sorted by our facility’s machinery,” said Jared Rhodes, director of policy and programs at the Rhode Island Resource Recovery Corporation (RIRRC). They can contaminate other materials and even lead to equipment malfunctions, he added.

An article in The Providence Journal expounds on the problem, noting that when local households sent their shredded paper for recycling in paper bags, the shredding machines ripped the bags, and tiny shreds flew everywhere. When residents tried using plastic bags (or even double-bagging in plastic), the shreds still flew everywhere—and plastic wrapped around the equipment, shutting the facility down for cleaning and repairs.

As a solution, some localities outsource the recycling of shredded paper to dedicated facilities that are equipped for it, but that costs additional time and taxpayer money. You can help reduce the load by composting your shredded paper, taking documents to be shredded to a community’s free shredding event (they’ll know how to dispose of the shreds), and reducing how much you shred in the first place.

Shred only paper containing sensitive information

Paper is most suitable for recycling when it isn’t shredded, because whole pieces are easier for facilities to sort and have longer and stronger fibers ready to be made into new paper. So it’s best to avoid unnecessary shredding.

To protect your privacy, you should still shred anything with sensitive information on it, of course, such as documents with your Social Security number, financial statements, and medical records.

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However, some information on a document may be personal but not necessarily sensitive enough to need shredding, such as your name and address; your contact information may already be available on public records or services such as White Pages.

“Consider how much junk mail and spam calls you receive; that’s how known your address and phone number are,” says Max Eddy, Wirecutter’s senior staff writer covering privacy and security. Instead of shredding documents that have only your name, address, and phone number on them, you can cover that information with permanent black marker and then put the sheets into the recycling bin.

Bonus: In addition to helping the environment, reducing how much you shred can prolong the life of your paper shredder. Everybody wins.

This article was edited by Ben Keough and Erica Ogg.

Meet your guide

Melanie Pinola

Melanie Pinola covers home office, remote work, and productivity as a senior staff writer at Wirecutter. She has contributed to print and online publications such as The New York Times, Consumer Reports, Lifehacker, and PCWorld, specializing in tech, work, and lifestyle/family topics. She’s thrilled when those topics intersect—and when she gets to write about them in her PJs.

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• We tested top shredders for use at home and in small offices and found easy-to-use workhorses that can help protect your identity. The Best Paper Shredders  

Further reading

How to Recycle Your Used Electronics

by Nick Guy

Are old computers, smartphones, or monitors taking over your closet? We’ll tell you how to recycle your tech, with privacy tips so you can do so safely.

How to Get Rid of a Used Car Seat

by Christine Cyr Clisset

We talked to experts about the best ways to dispose of a used car seat, and recommend you bring your unwanted seat to Target before May 5.

Why It’s So Hard to Get Rid of Used Mattresses

by Kevin Purdy

Getting rid of a used mattress responsibly can be a challenge—one that will likely only get worse as all-foam, bed-in-a-box options become more popular.

Yes, You Can (and Should) Recycle Batteries. Here’s How.

by Sarah Witman

If you have a container of spent batteries in your home that you don’t know what to do with, these are the best battery-recycling methods we’ve found.