What is Paper Made of?
Have you ever wondered what paper is made of? You’ll be surprised to learn that certain sheets of paper have had more past lives than a cat. Some sheets of paper have been made from tree shavings, cotton rags, yesterday's news. Let’s read on to learn more about how paper goes from wood chunks to the thing your grocery list is written on.
What Material Is Used to Make Paper?
If you want to be really plain about it, the raw material used to make paper is wood from trees. On average, it takes 24 trees to make one ton of uncoated, virgin office paper. But if you want to sound like someone who got a gold star in science class, then the main ingredient used to make paper are cellulose fibers. Cellulose fibers are plant-based fibers made up of cellulose and exist in various forms. You can find cellulose fibers across many materials such as wood, cotton, bamboo, or flax.
What Ingredients Are Used in Paper?
Wood, specifically wood pulp, is the most common material used to make paper. However, it takes a lot of intense chemical and mechanical processes to get wood into wood pulp form. Ingredients like bleach or chlorine are used to break the material down into a pulp, and when those chemicals leak into the environment, it’s harmful to Mother Nature.
Why Are Trees the Main Source for Paper?
People mainly use trees to make paper because there is an abundance of cellulose fibers in their wood. Since trees are technically a ‘renewable resource’, it’s the easiest source for fiber. However, it takes nearly 10-40 years to grow a single tree. As much as it is a ‘renewable resource’, it takes time for them to grow. If we keep cutting trees down at a fast rate, we’ll run out of trees to get wood from.
How is Traditional Paper Made?
If you want to get into the nitty gritty of how traditional paper is made, you can have a comprehensive read of our history of paper page. But if you want the Cliff Notes version: you take pulp from natural fibers, spread it evenly on a screen mold (also known as a ‘papermaker’), and let it dry into a solid sheet. Boom! Paper!
Is There Paper Made Without Trees?
Yes! You actually don’t have to use trees at all to make paper. This is why POOPOOPAPER turns to elephant poop as their source material for papermaking. Depending on what’s available and in abundance, we also make cow poo paper, horse poo paper, and donkey poo paper. No one is gunning to collect mounds of animal doo. It’s also naturally occurring (daily!) and absolutely abundant. We leave trees to exist in peace, to provide us with oxygen and natural cover from the Earth’s elements.
Elephants, cows, horses, and donkeys are notoriously known for two things: the first is that they have a fiber-forward diet – eating things like grass, small plants, or fruit – and the second is they’re bad at digesting their food, meaning a lot of fibers remain unbroken when they poop it all out. It’s fiber without the hassle of breaking down a tree, which is not only a win for Mother Nature but a win for your labor costs.
At POOPOOPAPER, we produce our paper in the traditional manner. You can learn about it in detail with our Poop to Paper process here. Our talented local artisans clean, boil, and lay our fiber pulp out by hand. Then Thailand’s scorching heat dries them into our large handmade paper sheets in just a few hours. It’s chemical-free, tree-free, and most importantly, a closed loop process. Since we don’t use harmful chemicals at any point in our production, we can reuse the water we used to boil the pulp to nourish the nearby vegetation at our production house.
What's the Difference Between Regular Paper and Recycled Paper?
Regular paper is made from brand new, never-before-used wood pulp. Recycled paper, on the other hand, is made from used paper that has been reprocessed to create new sheets. In layman’s terms, regular paper is a freshly made meal. Recycled paper is a new meal made from leftovers in the fridge.
Feeling Educated?
You’re definitely equipped with the knowledge to win the ‘what is paper made of’ category in a game of trivia now. At POOPOOPAPER, we believe in doing what we can with what we have. We were aware of a problem, saw something going to waste and thought: hey, let’s do something about this. Sure, our humble sustainable business in the north of Thailand isn’t going to change the world. But with an eco-friendly notebook here and a question asked there, we’ll be spreading word of innovative sustainability with ease.
If you’re interested in doing what you can with what you have, peruse our selection of featured sustainable gifts. Give someone something to write their thoughts in and something to think about.