造纸工业废水的处理应着重于提高循环利用率，减少用水量和废水排放量，同时也应积极探索各种可靠、经济和能够充分利用废水中有用资源的处理方法。例如：浮选法可回收白水中纤维性固体物质，回收率可达95%，澄清水可回用；燃烧法可回收黑水中氢氧化纳、硫化钠、硫酸钠以及同有机物结合的其他钠盐。中和法调节废水pH值；混凝沉淀或浮选法可去除废水中悬浮固体；化学沉淀法可脱色；生物处理法可去除BOD，对牛皮纸废水较有效；湿式氧化法处理亚硫酸纸浆废水较为成功。此外，国内外也有采用反渗透、超过滤、电渗析等处理方法。
The treatment of waste water in papermaking industry should be focused on improving recycling utilization, reducing water consumption and discharge of wastewater. At the same time, it should also actively explore various reliable, economical and fully utilized treatment methods in the waste water. For example, floatation can be used to recover fibrous solid material in white water, the recovery rate can reach 95%, the clarified water can be reused, and the combustion method can be used to recover sodium hydroxide, sodium sulfide, sodium sulphate and other sodium salts in combination with organic compounds in black water. The neutralization method regulates the pH value of wastewater; coagulation sedimentation or flotation can remove suspended solids in wastewater; chemical precipitation can be decolorizing; biological treatment can remove BOD and is more effective for kraft paper wastewater; wet oxidation process is more successful in treating sulphuric acid pulp wastewater. Besides, reverse osmosis, ultrafiltration and electrodialysis are also applied at home and abroad.