Real Recycling for Paper Towels

Paper towels are one of the most commonly found items in workplaces. They are convenient, highly absorbent, and prevent the spread of germs by nature of being single use. A downside of paper towels, however, is that traditionally, they cannot be recycled due to their material makeup.  

At Recorra, we’ve changed that.  

This month, we are celebrating three years of our Paper Towel Recycling service, which allows businesses to recycle used hand-drying towels into all-new paper towels.  

Find out just how big a difference recycling paper towels can make to both your business and the planet.  

Why Can’t Paper Towels Traditionally be Recycled?

Paper towels are made from short plant fibres, such as cellulose from wood pulp. These fibres are considered too short to be useful in creating new products. Longer fibres are more desirable because they provide strength, making them easier to reprocess into new paper products. 

Paper towels also contain wet-strength agents. These are chemicals that prevent them from falling apart when wet. Water is a key part of the paper recycling process, so these agents make recycling difficult. As a result, most paper towels end up in general waste, contributing to higher disposal costs for businesses and negative environmental impact. 

Why Paper Towel Recycling Matters

When paper towels are discarded in general waste, businesses miss the opportunity to recover valuable resources. Recycling them helps reduce carbon emissions, conserve raw materials, and lower waste disposal costs. 

The environmental benefits of paper recycling include: 

• Water saved: Recycling one tonne of paper can conserve approximately 26,000 litres of water.  

• Energy saved: Recycling paper uses about 70% less energy 

• Trees preserved: Recycling one tonne of paper can save 17 trees

• General waste reduction: A study by Tork found that recycling paper towels could reduce general waste by up to 20%

Each sack of recycled paper towels avoids wasted resources and supports the circular economy. 

How It Works

Our service simplifies the process for workplaces to recycle hand-drying paper towels. Used towels are collected in Recorra’s colour-coded sacks, and placed in our drop-front Recycling Hub, so no extra space is taken up by this service. 

These wheeled bins store several recycling streams at once without risking contamination, so you don’t need dedicated bins for each type of material you recycle. By collecting waste in our colour-coded sacks and adding them to the Recycling Hub when full, you can minimise the number of collections you need. 

From here, your paper towels will be transported to our specialist recycling partner, who will remove the wet-strength agents present in the paper towels. These agents cannot be recycled because they prevent the towels from breaking down into fibres.  

Once the wet-strength agents are removed, the paper towels are broken down and the fibres are recovered and transformed into all-new paper products.  

In order to produce high-quality paper products, your collections must contain paper towels only.  

What Can Go In The Paper Towel Recycling Stream?

• Yes please: Paper towels, blue roll used for hand drying

• No thanks: Kitchen roll, food, cardboard

By maintaining a clean recycling stream, you ensure high-quality recycling and avoid contamination. 

Once collected, these paper towels will go through a specialist process with one of our paper mill partners.  

Building a Circular Future

Every business faces the challenge of balancing cost, compliance, and sustainability. Paper towel recycling offers a practical solution that delivers on all three. 

• Less general waste = lower disposal costs. 

• Cleaner recycling streams = higher recovery rates

• Circular paper use = measurable impact on carbon, energy, and resource use

By choosing real recycling for paper towels, businesses take a simple but powerful step towards stronger commercial waste management and tangible progress on Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) commitments. 

Ready to set up paper towel recycling in your workplace? Speak to your Account Manager or contact our Helpdesk today.