Q. Is it still true that we cannot recycle shiny paper inserts from our newspapers? ... There seem to be more inserts of that kind coming with the newspapers. At a time when we should be doing more and more recycling, it seems like we need to know about this. — Barbara Grimes, O'ahu

A. State and county recycling officials say shiny paper inserts generally should be kept apart from standard newspaper when recycling, although if a few sheets get mixed in, it's not a huge problem. The issue is with the value of the newsprint as a recyclable commodity. If it's pure newsprint, it's worth more than if it has other types of paper mixed in.

The coating that makes shiny paper shiny is a clay product. It makes the paper heavier than regular paper, but the extra weight is the coating, not paper, and as a result, a pulp mill gets less actual fiber from a ton of glossy paper than a ton of regular paper.

"We are allowed a certain amount of contaminants, but glossy paper has a lower value," said Karen Shinmoto, business manager at Island Recycling, whose facilities are at Kapolei. The firm is the state's largest pure recycling company.

She said that newspaper is worth about twice as much at pulp mills as what's called coated stock, which includes glossy inserts and magazines. Island Recycling pays consumers a penny a pound, or $20 a ton, for newspaper. There is no payment for magazine and other glossy paper, since its recycling value is so much lower.

Different grades of paper end up being recycled into different kinds of paper products. The U.S. Department of Energy's Energy Information Administration says old newspaper is generally made into new newsprint, egg cartons or paperboard.

Does paper recycling make sense? The paper-recycling Web site Treecycle (www.treecycle.com) says it takes less than half the energy to make paper from paper than to make it from trees. It also takes less water and it may produce less pollution of various kinds. Friends of the Earth in Great Britain has a report on paper recycling at www.foe.co.uk/resource /briefings/paper_recycling .html.

The American Forest and Paper Association (www .afandpa.org) says that in 2003, Americans recycled 50.3 percent of the paper they used, and the paper industry hopes to push that to 55 percent by 2012. The U.S. recycles 339 pounds of paper per person per year. And we use a lot. Only Belgium uses more paper per capita than the United States.

If you have a question or concern about the Hawaiian environment, drop a note to Jan TenBruggencate at P.O. Box 524, Lihu'e, HI 96766 or jant@honoluluadvertiser.com. Or call him at (808) 245-3074.