Everybody uses paper. Why are we waiting for trees to grow only to cut them down to produce paper? It takes an incredible amount of time for a tree to grow, whereas other plants grow faster, why not use those plants
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There is a very close relationship between the paper and the lumber industries. Lots of pulp is produced in the production of lumber (which is essential for the manufacture of our homes and other uses) so why not use it to produce paper? What else could you do with it?
Using trees is not the problem. Trees grow quickly enough. The real problem is that we use too much paper and other cellulose based products. This leads to deforestation in some parts of the the globe and to monocultures in others.
Some have already commented about monocultures actually being ok for biodiversity if you use native trees. This is a very common misconception that’s being spread eagerly by pulp industry and pulp wood producers. In reality, only the natural cycles of forests with native trees are able to create habitats for every species.
The only real solution is to consume less.
many places don’t actually use trees to make paper. trees are used to make lumber, and the saw dust and what’s left over is made into paper products.
i’d want my toilet paper to disintegrate as quickly as possible after it’s used. not a fan of ‘flushable wipes’ etc.
One company uses fallen leaves from trees to make paper. I’d like to see how this advances in the paper industry.
I know this is an unsatisfying answer, but the actual answer is that it’s most profitable to make almost all paper from trees.
There are paper products that are made from something other than trees. For example, I tend to think of US money as being made of paper, but it’s actually made out of 75% cotton and 25% linen. Now, strictly speaking, that doesn’t necessarily mean it’s not paper, because cotton and linen are fibrous plant material just like wood pulp is, but it’s probably not what you normally think of when you think of paper.
But for normal paper, as it turns out, you make the most profit by growing fast growing and easily pulpable trees like pines. They have an advantage compared to a lot of other sources in that the cellulose fibers are longer than you get from many other sources, so the paper is stronger. And although they certainly don’t grow as tall as quickly as bamboo, they grow pretty darn quickly.
There have been studies regarding how far north eucalyptus could be grown to be used for paper production.
Also, knotweed can be used to make paper but it has to be done at a specific part of the growth cycle.
There are vast, vast expanses of the northern hemisphere that are ideally suited for growing trees for paper, and not much use for much else. It’s a fortunate situation.
Some trees grow quickly. Eucalyptus is commonly used for paper and that grows very fast. But different types of trees give different kinds of quality of the fibers. Some types of paper need to use slower growing trees (like pine) in order to produce giver if the right quality
Because the government decided that hemp was bad and therefore banned it in 1937. So thanks a lot government for banning a material that can produce with 1 acre what it takes 4-10 acres of trees to produce.
Trees used for pulp grow quite rapidly. It’s a farmed crop just like any other. It’s not like we’re going around clear cutting forests to make paper.
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