A new technique for recycling of white water was developed in order to reduce the calcium hardness in a closed OCC recycling system. Calcium ions present in the white water were precipitated as calcium carbonate by reacting with sodium carbonate, and the precipitated $CaCO_3$ was removed from the system using a flotation fractionation method, which has been commonly used in deinking process. In the flotation stage, a mixed gas of $CO_2$-air was purged into the flotation cell because the pH of $Na_2CO_3$-treated white water was reduced to neutral by $CO_2$ gas. Since $CaCO_3$ precipitate tends to stick onto fine fiber surface and then selectively removed from the white water, a proper amount of suspended solid in white water acts as an important factor for deciding the removal efficiency. By the application of $Na_2CO_3$ addition-$CO_2$ flotation to the short circulated white water, the calcium hardness was significantly reduced by 87% and more. Removal of calcium ions with fine fibers led to a drainage improvement, reduction of fresh water consumption, and enhanced efficiency of wet-end chemicals