Alternative Paper Sources

 Personally before researching this article, I had only heard of 3 alternative sources for papermaking.  Hemp, cotton and Lokta are the only ones I have personally used.  My store carries hempwrapping paper, handmade Lokta paper journals and cotton ribbon. Since the list is far more extensive than I ever imagined, I am only going to give the facts for the 3 for I’ve had experience in for now. 

Hemp:

 Hemp paper is made from the fibers of the hemp plant.  

• Hemp is the oldest cultivated fiber plant in the world.

• Low-THC fiber hemp varieties developed by the French and others have been available for over 20 years. It is impossible to get high from fiber hemp. Over 600,000 acres of hemp is grown worldwide with no drug misuse problem.

• One acre of hemp can produce as much usable fiber as 4 acres of trees or two acres of cotton.

• Trees cut down to make paper take 50 to 500 years to grow, while hemp can be cultivated in as little as 100 days and can yield 4 times more paper over a 20 year period.

• Until 1883, from 75-90% of all paper in the world was made with cannabis hemp fiber including that for books, Bibles, maps, paper money, stocks and bonds, newspapers, etc.

• Hemp paper is longer lasting than wood pulp, stronger, acid-free, and chlorine free. (Chlorine is estimated to cause up to 10% of all Cancers.)

• Hemp paper can be recycled 7 times, wood pulp 4 times.

• If the hemp pulp paper process reported by the USDA in 1916, were legal today it would soon replace 70% of all wood paper products.

• Rag paper containing hemp fiber is the highest quality and longest lasting paper ever made. It can be torn when wet, but returns to its full strength when dry. Barring extreme conditions, rag paper remains stable for centuries.

• Hemp particleboard may be up to 2 times stronger than wood particleboard and holds nails better.

• Hemp is softer, warmer, more water absorbent, has three times the tensile strength, and is many times more durable than cotton. Hemp production uses fewer chemicals than cotton.

• From 70-90% of all rope, twine, and cordage was made from hemp until 1937.

• A strong lustrous fiber; hemp withstands heat, mildew, insects, and is not damaged by light. Oil paintings on hemp and/or flax canvas have stayed in fine condition for centuries.

• Hemp has been grown for at least the last 12,000 years for fiber (textiles and paper) and food. It has been effectively prohibited in the United States since the 1950s.

• George Washington and Thomas Jefferson both grew hemp. Ben Franklin owned a mill that made hemp paper. Jefferson drafted the Declaration of Independence on hemp paper.

• When US sources of “Manila hemp” (not true hemp) was cut off by the Japanese in WWII, the US Army and US Department of Agriculture promoted the “Hemp for Victory” campaign to grow hemp in the US.

• Because of its importance for sails (the word “canvass” is rooted in “cannabis”) and rope for ships, hemp was a required crop in the American colonies.

• Many of the early documents printed on hemp paper hundreds, or even one thousand years ago, are still in existence. One of the more notable documents drafted in this Country in 1776 on hemp paper was The Declaration of Independence. Hemp was legal to grow then–but those were revolutionary times! Fabric made with hemp fiber was also used by Betsy Ross to sew the American flag. The industrial uses of hemp are indeed deeply rooted in American soil.

  

Cotton:

 

• One of the most commonly used plant fibers in the making of western papers.  Cotton sources include “rag” (recycled from 100% cotton fabric), raw cotton, and linters (shorter cotton fibers resembling clothes dryer lint).  Cotton is the purest form of cellulose produced in nature and it requires the least amount of processing before it can be used to make high quality paper.

• Cotton Paper:  Paper with a minimum cotton fiber content of 25%, and a maximum fiber content of 100%.  When fiber other than cotton is used, the balance comes from wood pulp.

• Rag Paper:  Paper with a cotton fiber content between 25% and 100%.  Originally used to describe paper made from recycling cotton rags.  Since most modern fabrics are blended with polyester or other synthetic fibers which are not desirable additions to paper, most commercially produced rag paper is actually made using cotton linters.

• Linters:  The short fibers that cling to cottonseeds after the first ginning.  These cotton fibers are too short for thread spinning or cloth making, but are useful in making paper pulp.

• Acid Free

• Lignin free

• Cotton can be mixed with other recycled paper fiber for a high quality paper type.

• Cotton papers are superior in both strength and durability to wood pulp-based papers, which often contain high concentrations of destructive acids. They don’t fade, discolor and deteriorate. They are available in a variety of weights.

• The life expectancy of 100% cotton paper is well over one hundred years.

• Handmade Cotton paper is available in smooth and vellum finishes.

  

Lokta:

 

• Lokta paper is handmade in the mountains of Nepal from the inner bark of the lokta bush (a wild shrub growing at altitudes from 7,000-9,000 feet).

• One of the strongest paper fibers.

• New growth regenerates quickly, it can grow up to 10 feet in height and 2 inches in diameter, and in four years after they sprout are ready to be pruned.

• Harvesting the lokta bush allows the plants root growth to accelerate to help hold the soil in place during the two monsoon seasons Nepal gets every year.

• Is the only export crop the remote villages have, thus giving them a sustainable form of income, making for a better standard of living without destroying their fragile ecosystem.

• The sacred Buddhist text, Karanya Buha Sutra, written in the Lichhavi script indicates that it was written some time between the 1st and 9th century A.D. was written on lokta paper.

 

Some other tree free sources of paper:

 

• Bagasse - the pulp that remains after extracting juice from sugar cane.

• Mango - Mango paper is usually from Thailand. It is made from kozo (paper mulberry) and mango leaf.

• Banana - Made from waste bark of banana tree, which is cut after the bananas have been ripened.

• Jute - you’ve probably seen jute twine; usually brownish in color and quite coarse. It can also be made into high-quality writing and specialty papers.

• Elephant poop - yes, you read it right, poop - but its bacteria free and odor free :).

• Straw - as straw fibers are very similar to wood fibers, it makes an excellent paper. Oddly enough, the USA was once the largest producer of straw for paper making; but the industry no longer exists.

• Tamarind - contain petals and leaves from tamarind tree

• Coconut - the husks of coconuts were usually discarded, but the fiber is now being used to create paper with a thick texture.

• Kenaf- is a type of hibiscus, originating in Africa.

• Amate bark- made from the bark of Amate or Jonote tree, Mulberry tree or Xalama Limon.

• Chir- a classic Japanese paper style made from Kozo pulp.

  If any of you would like more information on any of these let me know and I would be happy to do some research for you.   I find it very exciting that there are so many alternative paper sourcesappearing on the market.  If only more of us would use them, whole forest would be saved as these source become the normal instead of the exception. In review, we can do our part to help the sustainability of the earth by recycling and using alternative sources for paper.  My next article (which will be ready midweek) will be about our planets water shortage and ways that we can help by living within our own sustainability.   

Thanks for reading! 

S   

Great alternative paper products!

  

       

 

~ by digitalpoetry on December 9, 2007.