A method to facilitate recycling waste material, including waste paper and organic material, comprises the steps of receiving a plurality of plastic-wrapped compressed bales of the waste material at a waste material recycling location from a remote baling location, thereafter introducing the plurality of plastic-wrapped compressed bales into a re-pulping device at the waste material recycling location to form a treated waste material including substantially re-pulped waste paper, and thereafter discharging the treated waste material from the re-pulping device.

A method to facilitate recycling waste material, including waste paper and organic material, comprises the steps of receiving a plurality of plastic-wrapped compressed bales of the waste material at a waste material recycling location from a remote baling location, thereafter introducing the plurality of plastic-wrapped compressed bales into a re-pulping device at the waste material recycling location to form a treated waste material including substantially re-pulped waste paper, and thereafter discharging the treated waste material from the re-pulping device.

Methods of preparing partially dried or essentially completely dried compositions comprising microfibrillated cellulose and an inorganic particulate material may include microfibrillating a fibrous substrate comprising cellulose in an aqueous environment by grinding in the presence of an inorganic particulate material to form an aqueous composition comprising microfibrillated cellulose and inorganic particulate material, wherein the fibrous substrate comprising cellulose has a Canadian Standard freeness equal to or less than 450 cm, wherein the fibrous substrate to the inorganic particulate material are in a ratio of about 99.5:0.5 to about 0.5:99.5, and wherein the microfibrillated cellulose has a fibre steepness of from about 20 to about 50; by treating the aqueous composition comprising microfibrillated cellulose and inorganic particulate material to remove at least a portion or substantially all of the water of the aqueous composition to form a partially dried or essentially completely dried composition comprising microfibrillated cellulose and inorganic particulate material.

Methods of preparing partially dried or essentially completely dried compositions comprising microfibrillated cellulose and an inorganic particulate material may include microfibrillating a fibrous substrate comprising cellulose in an aqueous environment by grinding in the presence of an inorganic particulate material to form an aqueous composition comprising microfibrillated cellulose and inorganic particulate material, wherein the fibrous substrate comprising cellulose has a Canadian Standard freeness equal to or less than 450 cm, wherein the fibrous substrate to the inorganic particulate material are in a ratio of about 99.5:0.5 to about 0.5:99.5, and wherein the microfibrillated cellulose has a fibre steepness of from about 20 to about 50; by treating the aqueous composition comprising microfibrillated cellulose and inorganic particulate material to remove at least a portion or substantially all of the water of the aqueous composition to form a partially dried or essentially completely dried composition comprising microfibrillated cellulose and inorganic particulate material.

A material supply device includes a supply section that supplies a small piece made of a material containing a fiber, a weight measurement section that detects a weight of the small piece supplied from the supply section to a receiving portion, and a supply amount adjustment section that adjusts a supply amount per unit time of the small piece supplied by the supply section, based on a detection result detected by the weight measurement section. The supply section has a storage portion that stores the small piece, an outlet that discharges the small piece from the storage portion, and a shutter that opens and closes the outlet.

A recycled pulp that is reusable sanitary products is efficiently manufactured by recovering pulp fiber from used sanitary products containing the pulp fiber and a polymer absorbent. The method of the present invention comprises: a step applying a mechanical force to the used sanitary products in an aqueous solution containing a polyvalent metal ion or an acidic aqueous solution with a pH of 2.5 or lower and thus degrading the used sanitary products into the pulp fiber and other materials; a step separating the pulp fiber from the mixture of the pulp fiber and other materials that has been formed in the degradation step; and a step treating the pulp fiber thus separated with an ozone-containing aqueous solution with a pH of 2.5 or lower.

A recycled pulp that is reusable sanitary products is efficiently manufactured by recovering pulp fiber from used sanitary products containing the pulp fiber and a polymer absorbent. The method of the present invention comprises: a step applying a mechanical force to the used sanitary products in an aqueous solution containing a polyvalent metal ion or an acidic aqueous solution with a pH of 2.5 or lower and thus degrading the used sanitary products into the pulp fiber and other materials; a step separating the pulp fiber from the mixture of the pulp fiber and other materials that has been formed in the degradation step; and a step treating the pulp fiber thus separated with an ozone-containing aqueous solution with a pH of 2.5 or lower.

A bale of sheets made of waste/recycle cellulose fibers and cellulose ester (CE) staple fibers can be fed to a hydropulper. The CE staple fibers have: i. a denier per filament (DPF) of less than 3, or ii. a cut length of less than 6 mm, or iii. crimping, or iv. a combination of any two or more of (i)-(iii). The bales can be fed and dropped in as entire bales to a hydropulper, or a blend tank directly or indirectly in fluid communication with a hydropulper, using the same feed system employed for feeding cellulose to the hydopulper and avoiding having to defiberize by pulling or drawing fibers from a box container into a hydropulper. The waste/recycle cellulose fibers and CE staple fibers can be co-refined prior to making the bale of sheets.

A bale of sheets made of waste/recycle cellulose fibers and cellulose ester (CE) staple fibers can be fed to a hydropulper. The CE staple fibers have: i. a denier per filament (DPF) of less than 3, or ii. a cut length of less than 6 mm, or iii. crimping, or iv. a combination of any two or more of (i)-(iii). The bales can be fed and dropped in as entire bales to a hydropulper, or a blend tank directly or indirectly in fluid communication with a hydropulper, using the same feed system employed for feeding cellulose to the hydopulper and avoiding having to defiberize by pulling or drawing fibers from a box container into a hydropulper. The waste/recycle cellulose fibers and CE staple fibers can be co-refined prior to making the bale of sheets.

Methods of preparing partially dried or essentially completely dried compositions comprising microfibrillated cellulose and an inorganic particulate material may include microfibrillating a fibrous substrate comprising cellulose in an aqueous environment by grinding in the presence of an inorganic particulate material to form an aqueous composition comprising microfibrillated cellulose and inorganic particulate material, wherein the fibrous substrate comprising cellulose has a Canadian Standard freeness equal to or less than 450 cm, wherein the fibrous substrate to the inorganic particulate material are in a ratio of about 99.5:0.5 to about 0.5:99.5, and wherein the microfibrillated cellulose has a fibre steepness of from about 20 to about 50; by treating the aqueous composition comprising microfibrillated cellulose and inorganic particulate material to remove at least a portion or substantially all of the water of the aqueous composition to form a partially dried or essentially completely dried composition comprising microfibrillated cellulose and inorganic particulate material.