Receipts? Really!? = 1 Ton of Paper
After chemically seperating the cellulose fibres from wood, the lignocellulostic fibrous material, pulp, is used to make paper. All thermal receipts start with a base layer of normal paper before a release liner and pre-layer are added.
Receipts demands are 640,000 in the US per year. Thats 9,600,000 trees used as receipts per year!
Chemicals
Pulp & Base Layer
Each chemical product including a coloring and sensitizing agent and color enhancer go into a ball mill to reduce their particle size. A ball mill is esentially a grinder that uses small balls made out of a hard material that move around to grind up each chemical to the right particle size. This allows all the chemicals to combine evenly, and thusly each layer to apply correctly.
BPA Can Cause -Cancer -Undeveloped brains in infants -Reproductive defects -Diabetes -Obesity
11 of 22 Receipts contain high levels of BPA The release liner is a paper or plastic based carrier material added to the paper so that the pre layer and thermal layer will react properly with it.
Release Liner
Formulation
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25, 000 gallons of oil used during receipt paper production.
This stage is performed in the “kitchen” or preperation area. All of the chemicals that have just been ground up into their proper particle sizes are combined to produce the thermal coating mix.
Thermal Header Thermal Layer Pre-Layer
Pre-Layer Base Layer
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This is the most important layer for thermal receipt paper. This layer contains the chemicals that will react to heat in the printer’s thermal header to create an image on the receipt paper.
10 billion gallons of water used in receipt paper production
Applyer
The thermal header on the thermal receipt printer heats up the thermal receipt paper as it rolls past, reacting with the thermal layer and creating an image on the paper.
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Thermal Layer
Thermal layer & BPA
Paper
BPA Addition Stage
21 out of 22 dollar bills contains BPA from receipt contact
A layer of mixed chemcals are added to the base paper to form an undercoating that gives a smoother more even surface for the even distribution of the thermal layer. The pre-layer also allows for better image quality when printed in a thermal receipt printer.
100,000 cars that can run off the CO2 emissions for 1 year 24/7 from receipt production.
During the addition of the thermal layer to the receipt paper, BPA is also added to help protect the receipt paper from reacting with things other then the thermal printer.
The receipt paper moves along a conveyor belt and comes to an applyer that adds a perfect coating of thermal layer to the paper, which also contains the BPA.
The finishing process of coated paper making where the paper is pressed through heated rolls in order for it to have a glossy finish. The rolls usually exert a force of 500 pounds per linear inch.
Heated Rolls Reciept paper
Calendering
= Winding & Packaging
Most stores go through about 2 roles of receipt paper in a full day. That’s around 400 feet of paper. Most consumers only keep receipt paper for a couple of days and then throw them away.
Use & Removal
After the calendering process the paper sheet is fed into a duplex roller, a special paper roller that limits the number of defects in layered paper.
1 billion pounds of garbage produced by receipt paper each year