Alternative paper?

[Sixiang]

I don't know if this has already been asked. I searched and got nothing. Does anyone know much about paper production and alternatives to making paper other than trees? I found a few things from google, such as kenaf and banana paper. Obviously we should recycle paper, and I do try to recycle the paper I use as much as I can, but I feel like there could eventually be a point where we might run out trees to chop down. I suppose we could make tree farms for paper. I really don't know much of anything about it. Anyone have any insight or thoughts? Sure it's nice to have literature available online and to read on e-readers, but there's just something nice about having a book in your hands. Also, it's easier on the eyes. But enough of my ramblings. I'm in no way a science buff, so I apologize if any of this is just complete nonsense.

[Political_Chucky]

I know that Cannabis can produce hemp which is then processed into paper, but I believe it a bit more expensive. I don't know much about alternative paper though unfortunately, besides what I googled.


Hemp and Kenaf and Post-Consumer Waste Paper

You may have heard and read some of the advantages of using hemp. It is a long, strong fiber; good for a variety of uses. Hemp makes excellent rope and clothing, and hemp oil makes a good base for paint, ink and more. Unfortunately, hemp's relationship to marijuana has made it a socially and politically unacceptable fiber source in this country since World War Two. Kenaf, a relative of okra and cotton, has a very resilient, long fiber and its bamboo-like stalks grow very rapidly. One current use is to make booms for oil spill clean-up. It has been recognized for over 40 years as a high quality fiber for paper production. It makes good paper.
As annual crops, hemp and kenaf could be farmed to produce fiber rather than "mined" as are the world's over-exploited forests. Because they do not have lignins (a non-cellulose component of trees) to be removed and disposed of, these plants will be a less polluting substitute for paper than trees. Kenaf may be able to be rotated with other crops , requiring less new land for production.
Hemp and kenaf are being touted as great environmental alternatives to using trees for making paper. The question arises: alternatives to what? Disappointingly, they appear to be alternatives for high post-consumer recycled paper. Alternative fiber paper as a substitute for recycled paper hurts our ability to take waste paper to the recycling center. Recycling is a loop. We save and take our waste paper to the recycling center and we must buy paper made with that post-consumer material. This is the recycling equation.
Buying hemp or kenaf paper instead of high post-consumer paper works against waste stream reduction. Forty percent of our garbage is paper (5% of this is junk mail). Only through the purchase and use of high post-consumer recycled papers can we truly address waste stream reduction. Without consumer demand for these recycled papers the whole cycle breaks down.
In other words, if we want the recycling center to take our waste paper, there must be a demand for the products that will be made from it. Post-consumer waste - the stuff you and I take to the recycling center - doesn't get used by magic. Currently only a small percentage of recoverable post-consumer waste paper is actually used (contrary to the misleading information of the American Forest and Paper Association - the mouthpiece of the timber industry) and this must pick up to keep recycling viable. The consumer plays a significant role. The recycling industry is having a hard time due to low values on waste paper. Many packages and products labeled "recycled" are not made with post-consumer materials but only contain factory wastes which have always been used.
If you are not using post-consumer recycled paper, you are not recycling your waste paper.

http://www.treecycle.com/papers/alt_fiber.html

[JazzRemington]

Check this out:

http://www.crunchgear.com/2010/02/08/toner-ink-and-paperless-printer-video/

Basically, it's a printer that uses little to no consumables. The printer uses heat to "write" the information to sheets of paper made out of a kind of plastic (I don't know the details about the plastic itself). If you want to use the paper again, you run it through the printer, hit the erase button, and it removes everything. This process can be repeated about 1,000 per sheet.

[Sixiang]

Check this out:

http://www.crunchgear.com/2010/02/08/toner-ink-and-paperless-printer-video/

Basically, it's a printer that uses little to no consumables. The printer uses heat to "write" the information to sheets of paper made out of a kind of plastic (I don't know the details about the plastic itself). If you want to use the paper again, you run it through the printer, hit the erase button, and it removes everything. This process can be repeated about 1,000 per sheet.

That is so interesting. What a brilliant idea. I wouldn't be completely sold, though, until I knew what the production of the paper and the printer itself were, but this could have serious potential.

[Political_Chucky]

mmm yeah, but that paper is extremely expensive at 3.95 a SHEET. Its definitely marketed towards businesses, but even then what business would spend that much on a sheet when its much cheaper to buy a pack of 100 for the same amount.

[Amphictyonis]

The internet. There's no real need for massive amounts of books in advanced capitalist nations. Hell, the internet should be free worldwide with every book ever written free to read. I think this is actually possible right now but capitalism wouldn't allow it. The fiber optics would have to be lain of course.

[The Vegan Marxist]

mmm yeah, but that paper is extremely expensive at 3.95 a SHEET. Its definitely marketed towards businesses, but even then what business would spend that much on a sheet when its much cheaper to buy a pack of 100 for the same amount.

You do realize that the sheet can be re-used 1,000 times, right!? $3.00 sheets that can be re-used 1,000 times sounds like a fucking awesome deal to me.

[Tablo]

Chucky beat me to it. Hemp is great for paper.

[Political_Chucky]

You do realize that the sheet can be re-used 1,000 times, right!? $3.00 sheets that can be re-used 1,000 times sounds like a fucking awesome deal to me.

Yeah, but some people, me especially, like to keep my papers(especially for school) for reference later or even for sentimental value. I don't know how strong that paper is because it better be if your going to keep re-using it. It would look sloppy if the edges were all worn out if your going to use it for presentation purposes. I don't know, it depends on the circumstances I guess.

[JazzRemington]

Yeah, but some people, me especially, like to keep my papers(especially for school) for reference later or even for sentimental value. I don't know how strong that paper is because it better be if your going to keep re-using it. It would look sloppy if the edges were all worn out if your going to use it for presentation purposes. I don't know, it depends on the circumstances I guess.

I'm fairly certain the price will go down over time.

[Hoipolloi Cassidy]

You can make paper out of grass, plants, linen (there was a huge amount of linen recycled into paper into the 19th century, people would go around collecting old clothes for the purpose.) I myself have made paper from rose petals and such, but my main interest is parchment - oddly enough, there are plenty of skins going to waste anyhow, at one point a bunch of us were considering recycling ghetto rats into parchment. Plenty of those around.

Problem is, for the sheet to run through the printer it has to meet certain specific criteria, like thickness, so it's a bit moot - unless you want to cut your own quills to write as well, which I highly recommend. Think of all the plastic pens you won't be using....Oh, and making your own ink....:D

[The Vegan Marxist]

I'm fairly certain the price will go down over time.

Only through a socialist society, maybe. In a capitalist one, this machine's price will go down when production of a better product comes out in the market. And even then, more resources will be wasted on it, more land use, etc. etc. In other words, not eco-friendly at all!

[NGNM85]

Hemp is an excellent subsitute. In fact, hemp was potentially poised to make a serious dent in the paper industry in the 1930's. There were articles in Popular Mechanics, etc. The Joe McCarthy of Cannabis; Harry J. Anslinger's vitriolic screeds about the evils of marijuana were put out by Hearst publishing, which was protecting it's business interests following a partnership with the DuPont chemical company on a new chemical pulping technology.