Katarina Nolte (posts 500-999)

Save Trees: Use Weeds And Agricultural Waste To Make Paper

“The Weed That Can Change The World:

Hemp is among the oldest industries on the planet, going back more than 10,000 years to the beginnings of pottery.

Presidents Washington and Jefferson both grew hemp.

Hemp Seed is far more nutritious than even soybean, contains more essential fatty acids than any other source, is second only to soybeans in complete protein (but is more digestible by humans), is high in B-vitamins, and is 35% dietary fiber.
Hemp seed is not psychoactive and cannot be used as a drug.

Hemp fiber is longer, stronger, more absorbent and more insulative than cotton fiber. Hemp stalk is not psychoactive.

Hemp grows well without herbicides, fungicides, or pesticides.

Hemp produces more pulp per acre than timber on a sustainable basis, and can be used for every quality of paper.

Hemp fiberboard produced by Washington State University was found to be twice as strong as wood-based fiberboard.

Research is being done to use hemp in manufacturing biodegradable plastic products: plant-based cellophane, recycled plastic mixed with hemp for injection-molded products, and resins made from the oil…”

“Hemp paper threatened DuPont’s monopoly on the necessary chemicals for manufacturing paper from trees and hemp fiber cloth would compete with Nylon, a synthetic fibre, that was patented in 1938, the year hemp was made illegal.

It is often asserted in pro-cannabis publications that DuPont actively supported the criminalization of the production of hemp in the US in 1937 through private and government intermediates, and alleged that this was done to eliminate hemp as a source of fiber - one of DuPont’s biggest markets at the time.”

“Others point to agricultural waste as a stand in for wood.

Agri-pulp, as it’s called, is wheat, oat, barley and other crop stalks left over after harvesting.

Combined with recycled paper and other fillers, some paper makers are finding that agri-pulp paper makes fine stationery.

Hemp is a wood substitute that has a rich history in the paper making industry from paper’s origins in China in the first century AD to the Declaration of Independence, which was written in the 18th century on hemp paper.

Hemp is now used to make rope and clothes as well as paper.

Unfortunately, it is illegal to grow hemp in the U.S. because it is a non-intoxicating variety of cannabis sativa, the same plant marijuana comes from.

For that reason, hemp must be imported for use in the U.S.

Kenaf is also known as an excellent tree-substitute in making paper.

This 4,000-year-old hibiscus plant - an annual, non-wood fiber plant related to okra and cotton - is native to central Africa and can grow up to 18 feet tall in a four -to-five month season.

Like hemp, kenaf is naturally whiter than wood and can be bleached with hydrogen peroxide instead of chlorine.”

12am