The first ground-wood pulp mill in the United States was established in 1867 in Massachusetts. Experimenting in chemical processes for preparing wood for papermaking took place during the 1850s and 1860s in Europe and America; commercial production of wood pulp by the sulphite process was achieved by 1887 in Ontario" (Kinsella 1). .
The concept or thought of recycling paper has been in the minds of many people for a long time. "In fact, even after the Industrial Revolution influenced America and the era of mass production and consumption was established here, many products were recycled" (Granera).
There are two important factors that have influenced the recycling movement. One is the legal issue and the other is the landfill crisis. "In California there are no State laws directly affecting "recovered paper", although there are a number of laws affecting the purchase of "recycled paper". All but one of the recycled paper purchasing laws affect purchasing by State and local governments only. The one law affecting purchasing in the private sector is the "recycled-content newsprint law", which requires California commercial printers and publishers to ensure that specified percentages of the newsprint they use is recycled-content newsprint" (CIWMB 1). The California Integrated Waste Management Board (CIWMB) developed a market development plan in 1992 and updated it in 1996 to identify activities that would assist local government and the private sector in a 50% waste reduction that each jurisdiction sends to landfills in 2000. We have yet to achieve this goal and it's the year 2003. "California is faced with the challenge of managing nearly 14 million TONS of post-consumer paper generated annually in the State" (CIWMB1). With the rate of recovered paper circling around 31% to 34%, the other approximate 9.5 million tons is disposed in landfills (CIWMB 1). Recycling alone will not reduce the amount sent to landfill as California's paper generation continues to increase.