Non Tree Fibre Paper

Non-tree Fibre Paper

The environmental and social costs of tree-based paper production will force us to look more to other sources. It is sobering to think that two out of every five trees are cut for pulp. The current pulp paper production releases large amounts of dangerous pollutants, such as chlorine, dioxin and furans into the air and water.

Non-tree paper will become more and more popular for personal stationary and other uses as the impact of tree-based paper production is understood and felt. We have relied on herbaceous plants for paper production for thousands of years. There are hundreds of annuals and herbaceous perennials that can be used for paper stock, either alone or in combination with others. If our paper needs could be satisfied by these sources, it would lower energy consumption, save forests, reduce toxic waste, decentralize paper production, and provide additional crop choices for farmers. Already, there is a considerable amount of paper made from rice straw, jute or hemp, especially in developing countries. There are currently more than 300 mills in at least 45 countries that are producing non-tree based paper.

Perennial herbaceous plants have several advantages over annual plants for paper production. There is less cultivation needed. Cultivation requires tractors, implements and fuel. Herbaceous perennials tend to build soil rather than degrade it.

In Australia, there is a small but growing tree-free paper industry. There is enormous opportunity for expansion of this industry in Australia because of its primary production emphasis. There are the vast amounts of agricultural waste from wheat, rice, cotton, bananas, sugarcane and cotton production. The clothing industry also can contribute considerable amounts of cotton waste. Crop wastes can provide the paper industry with its raw products without having to convert new land to production.

	Abaca	Flax Bast		Hemp Bast	Sisal
	Abaca	Textile tow	Oilseed straw	Hemp Bast	Sisal
Primary source	Philippines, Ecuador	EU, Egypt	Canada, USA	EU	East Africa, Brazil
Uses	Tea bags Porous plug wrap Filtration papers Laminate substrates Abrasion resistant High value tape base Meat casing Currency	Cigarette burning tube Currency Ultra-lightweight printing (bible) Lightweight printing	Cigarette burning tube Lightweight printing	Cigarette burning tube Currency Ultra-lightweight printing (bible) Lightweight printing	Tea bags Condenser paper Porous plug wrap Filtration papers Laminate substrates Abrasion resistant High value tape base Meat casing

Abaca Paper

Abaca plants resemble banana plants, without the bananas. The plants consist of approximately 12 – 30 stalks radiating from the root system. Each stalk is up to 6 metres high. The plant is ready for processing into paper in 18 – 24 months from planting.

For paper production the fibre is stripped from the stem of the stalks rather than the leaf - the leaf has coarser fibres. The strips are scraped to remove the pulp. Because of abaca’s long staple length, strength and cellulose content, its main use is speciality papers.

Sisal Paper

The leaves of the sisal plant Agave sisalana, and its hybrids is used to produce a high quality paper. The pulp from sisal has a high tear resistance, high alpha-cellulose content, high porosity, high bulk, high absorbency and high folding endurance which makes it so good for speciality papers, and high quality papers.

Sisal pulp’s properties make it useful as a reinforcing fibre in high recycle content papers.

Kenaf Paper

Kenaf is a 4,000 year old source of fibre that provides a good alternative to tree-based paper production. Kenaf is a member of the hibiscus family, related to cotton and okra. It can replace tree products in almost every use, and has the potential to replace or augment fossil fuel use. One acre of kenaf produces 10 tons of fibre per growing seasin.

The refined outer fibre is similar to good softwood fibres used for high quality papers and the core wood fibre can produce paper that is comparable to that from hardwood trees. It makes a superior newsprint.

Kenaf crop production is environmentally friendly that needs little input ie chemicals, and fertilizers.

Hemp paper

Hemp paper has been produced and used since before Christ. Because hemp paper is acid-free and dose not yellow with age, many of the early documents have survived as historical records. If they had been printed on paper made from wood pulp before acid removal techniques were available, they would have disintegrated within 100 years.

Although hemp paper is not new, it currently represents one of the most promising applications of hemp, as a substitute to paper produced from tree pulp. Hemp is stronger and more durable than tree pulp paper, but these are not its only advantages – it is more sustainable and environmentally friendly than timber harvesting. Paper consumption continues to rise as it has done for the last 90 years. In 1913 worldwide consumption totalled 14 million tons. Consumption rose to 250 million tons in the 1990s despite electronic communication being touted as an alternative to paper.

Another significant environmental advantage of hemp is its yield. One acre of hemp can produce as much fibre as 4 acres of trees. Hemp can be cultivated once or more than once per year, whereas timber has a 20-30 year rotation. With the increasing inability of Western nations to meet their domestic paper requirements they are importing more and more wood from tropical countries, with the resultant loss of resource for local people in those countries, and increased transport costs and consumption of fossil fuels and pollution.

In order to make paper out of tree pulp, we need to break down a substance called 'lignin'. In order to do this, we must soak the pulp in powerful acid, which contaminates the environment. Also the paper is often whitened with chemicals which are also dangerous to the environment. Hemp pulp does not contain lignin and whitens with much less difficulty. Paper made from hemp is known as the "archivist's perfect paper" because it lasts much longer than tree pulp paper and does not harden, crack, yellow, or crumble with age. Hemp fibre can be used to make every grade of paper.

Hemp can also be grown with minimal or no chemicals.

Producing paper from hemp is not only more environmentally friendly than wood pulp it is also more environmentally than post-consumer recycled paper production. Although recycling post-consumer paper waste reduces the number of trees that are cut for new paper, the processing required to recycle paper and remove ink, creates more pollution than processing virgin wood. To produce 100 tons of paper from virgin wood 5 tons of sludge are produced. This sludge is relatively non-toxic and can sometimes be used as fertiliser, whereas 100 tons of paper produced from post-consumer waste paper produces 40 tons of sludge that has a level of toxicity, and must be disposed of carefully in landfills. On the other hand, hemp is processed into paper using an ammonia-sulphate-alcohol process whose by-products can be pumped back into the system producing no pollution. Also, hemp yields longer fibres and creates high quality paper when added to short fibre office paper recycling.

Additionally the tree pulp paper industry uses more water to produce 1 ton of product than any other industry. Hemp paper can be recycled ten times, as opposed to three times for most tree-based paper. Hemp production reduces the need for acids, and lends itself to environmentally friendly bleaching instead of using chlorine compounds.