.How are trees grown for paper?

Trees are planted and grown specifically to make paper. Trees that are cut down for paper
production do not come from our favorite park or wilderness area.

When some people hear about trees being cut for paper, they might think of their favorite
oak in the backyard, neighborhood park or wilderness area being cut to pieces. They might
think of birds, squirrels and other creatures being robbed of their homes.

The good news is that the production and use of paper are not causing forests to
disappear.

Where do trees for making

paper come from?
Most trees used for paper come from forests calledmanaged timberlands. Even though the trees in
these timberlands may look like "woods," they are an agricultural crop - like vegetables on a farm. The
trees are grown to be made into products for human use. Not using paper in order to save trees is like
not eating salad in order to "save" vegetables.

In fact, many forests might not exist in the first place if trees weren't planted and harvested by
industry. It takes from 10 - 20 years for trees to grow until they are large enough for harvesting. During
that time, those trees are part of a community of plants and animals, and their environment space is
known as anecosystem. Trees provide a place to live (or habitat) for many species of plants and
animals, and they add oxygen to the earth's atmosphere.

Will we run out of trees if we continue to cut them down for paper?

No. More trees are planted every year than are cut down. This is due in most part to the success of
managed timberlands. Whenever trees are harvested, more trees are planted to take their place.
Timberlands can be managed to produce trees and forest products forever.

Trees are a renewable resource. As long as we manage timberland and plant trees to replace the
ones cut down, trees will continue to grow and grow and grow.

In some ways, this process is similar to growing vegetables in a garden. We plant the vegetables and
let them grow until they are mature enough to harvest. When harvest time comes, we collect the
vegetables and eat them. Next spring, the process begins again when we plant a new crop. As long
as we continue to plant and harvest, the process goes on and on.

More trees are destroyed by fire and insects than are cut down to make paper. And, on an average,
when a tree is harvested for making paper, five more are planted in its place.

How are trees grown for paper?

Sections:

 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 
    If "saving" trees isn't the issue, why
do we want to recycle paper?
We recycle paper mainly to save landfill space.

Paper is one of the few consumer products that is

fairly easy and inexpensive to recycle. It can be made
into many new products including corrugated boxes,
packaging, newsprint, tissue, and writing paper,
  among other things.

Helping to reduce the amount of paper in landfills is

an important task. Since each of us uses an average
of 700 pounds of paper products per year, paper
makes up almost a third of the material which goes
into landfills.

The recycling process also produces recycled fiber, a

valuable product. Countries with a plentiful supply of
recycled fiber can not only use it to make their own
recycled paper, they also can send it to other nations
to provide them with fiber to make paper products. In
this way, an old newspaper recycled in the U.S. can
end up as part of a box made in Africa - quite a wise
use of a tree!

Think about all the paper products you use every day.
Many of these can be recycled to make other useful
products. In the U.S., more paper is recycled than is
sent to landfills, and more paper is recovered for
recycling than all glass, aluminum, and plastics
combined

Why don't we just leave forests alone?

It might be true that leaving forests totally alone is more "natural," but it may not be more beneficial or
practical. Land is either owned by governments, companies, or individuals. When companies and
individuals own land, they need to put it to some use to help pay for it.

Growing managed timberlands allows people to use land in a way which preserves trees. The only
other way to keep the land green with trees is for government-type agencies to buy the land and
maintain it as a park or wilderness area. This approach costs taxpayers money, and is often not an
option because of the difficulties in acquiring the land and settling the political issues involved.

All in all, wise use of forests and the products which come from them is good for people and for trees
too.

Forests grow in all areas of the U.S. If these trees were all put together limb to limb, they would take
up a space equivalent to one third of the country.

How do we use the wood from harvested trees?

Often, a tree is not cut down for making paper at all, but instead cut down for making boards and
planks (dimensional lumber) used for buildings. Paper is then made from the leftover scraps from
those sawmill operations. Almost none of the tree is wasted after it is harvested.  Bark is used for
fuel, and wood chemicals are extracted and used to make products such as pine solvent and cleaning
agents, turpentine and gums.

Because of the many uses of trees, timberlands are valuable to both nature and people. If we
continue to manage our resources wisely, generations to come can look forward to a future
that includes both paper and an abundance of trees.

PAPER!
The pulp and paper industry is one of the most important industries in the world. It supplies an
essential product - paper - to over 5 billion people worldwide. But most people don't know a lot about
the industry. Today we'll take a look at where paper comes from, and how it is made, and I think you
will find that the paper industry is one of the most fascinating industries around. There are so many
interesting things to tell you about paper, it's hard to know where to begin! I guess the best place to
start is the beginning... Back in 200 B.C.

History
 
This is when experts now believe paper was first made. New evidence shows that
the Chinese used old chopped-up fishing nets to make the world's very first paper.
Three hundred years later, around 100 A.D., a Chinese scholar and government
official named Ts'ai Lun made paper out of tree bark and scraps of linen and
hemp. Because he documented his invention, Ts'ai Lun is generally known as the
man who "invented" paper.

The art of papermaking was kept secret in China for centuries. It was not until 793 A.D. that paper
was made outside the Orient. The process slowly spread through Africa and Europe in the 10th
century, and finally reached England around 1494, two years after Columbus sailed to America.

 
Finally, in 1690, the first U.S. paper mill was built at Germantown, Pennsylvania by
William Rittenhouse. The Rittenhouse mill made about 100 pounds of paper a
day. At this time, paper was made by hand from old cotton and linen rags, a slow
and labor-intensive process. As the demand for paper grew, it became harder and
harder to find enough old rags to meet the demand. It wasn't until the late 1860s
that Americans first began making paper from wood.

Paper - Then and Now

 
In the year 1900, the U.S. Paper industry produced an estimated 14 thousand tons of paper a day.
Today's U.S. Paper industry produces over 250 thousand tons of paper and paperboard every day.
Every year, each man, woman, and child in America uses about 700 pounds of paper. And over 350
million magazines, two billion books,, and 24 billion newspapers are published in America every year.

When you think of paper products, you probably think of things like newspapers, notebooks,
magazines, and posters. But about 5,000 other products are also made of paper and papermaking by-
products. Can you think of any?

 
Board games, candy wrappers, money, microwave packaging - even your
laminated desk top - are all examples of products made from paper.

Pulp chemicals products

The wood products industry has found uses for every part of a tree. In fact, nearly
100% of a harvested tree is used for some purpose.
 
Many important products are made from papermaking byproducts These are the natural
chemicals, such as resins, which are contained in wood. This picture shows just a few of
the many products made with pulp chemicals.
 

Cellulose fiber
 
Paper is made from natural fibers called cellulose. The primary source of cellulose
in the U.S. today is wood. Many types of wood can be used to make paper. The
two main types are hardwood such as oak, and softwood, such as pine. This slide
shows a combination of hardwood and softwood fibers.

Softwood fibers are over twice as long as hardwood fibers. In general, the longer
the fiber, the stronger the paper will be. Therefore, softwood fibers are best used for paper or
paperboard which requires strength, such as grocery bags and boxes. Short fibers, on the other hand,
help make paper smooth. A blend of hardwood and softwood fiber is ideal for making printing and
writing paper, which needs to be both strong and smooth.

Did you know that other plants besides trees are used to make paper?

Non-wood fiber
 
This slide is a picture of a eucalyptus seedling grown on a plantation in Australia.
Eucalyptus and other non-wood plants such as straw, cotton, kenaf, and bamboo are
sometimes used to make paper. In countries such as India which do not have an abundant
supply of trees, these plants are a good alternate source of fiber.

Recovered paper
 
Another source of fiber for papermaking is recovered paper collected for recycling.
Recovered paper is a great source of fiber because it is readily available and easily
recycled. And, recycling diverts wastepaper from landfills, saving valuable landfill space.
Over 40% of the paper which is manufactured in the U. S. today is recovered for
recycling by the paper industry.

But recycling will never entirely replace using trees for papermaking. One reason is that
there is simply not enough recovered paper to meet the world's demand. Some paper is too
contaminated to be reused. Plus, fibers can only be recycled five to seven times before they become
too short and weak to be used in papermaking. In time, recycled fibers become so short that they
wash out of the pulp during the recycling process.

So How is Paper Made? from fiber? Let's take a look.

Pulping
 
First, wood chips or recovered paper are combined with water and sometimes
chemicals and "cooked" until the cellulose fibers separate from each other. This
mushy solution of water and fiber is called pulp. This picture shows a handful of
dry pulp. Sometimes, fillers and additives are added to the pulp to make the
finished paper more glossy, absorbent, or water resistant.

The paper machine

 
Watery pulp is sprayed from a huge vat called a headbox onto a giant plastic
screen which is moving quickly around the front end of the paper machine. The
fibers in the pulp bond to each other and form a watery sheet of paper. As the pulp
is carried along the screen, water begins to drain out. The sheet of paper is then
pressed between a series of felt-covered and heated rollers to remove more water
and to make the paper smooth and dry.
The finished roll of paper
 
A finished roll of paper can measure up to 30 feet long and weigh as much as 20
tons! The rolls of paper are cut into smaller rolls, and are then ready to be
converted into paper products like boxes, books, and magazines.

A Sustainable Industry

So does all this papermaking mean we're running out of trees? Absolutely not! Most people don't
realize that much of the raw material used to make paper actually comes from sawdust and wood
chips left behind by lumber manufacturing.

 
When timber companies do harvest trees for paper, they do not just cut them
down and leave the land bare. That wouldn't make sense. Timber companies
need trees to keep their companies in business.

Managed timberlands
 
Most trees used for paper come from forests called managed timberlands. Timber
companies practice sustainable forestry to manage these timberlands by
replanting more trees than they harvest. Today, two new trees are planted for
every one tree harvested in the United States.

 
Some managed timberlands are tree farms. A tree farm is much like a garden, where trees
are planted and harvested over and over again. This cycle can go on forever, so that we
will never "run out" of trees. In fact, many forests might not exist at all if trees weren't
planted and harvested by industry.

These sustainable forestry practices ensure that we will always have plenty of trees - and
paper - to enjoy - today and for years to come.

Environmental stewardship
 
The forest products industry is deeply committed to protecting our environment.
The industry has worked for years with federal and state governments to ensure
the cleanliness of the air and water in paper mill communities. Every year, the
forest products industry spends more than $1 billion on environmental research,
equipment, and technology.

People in Paper
 
People with all kinds of interests and skills are part of the paper industry.
Some work at companies which manufacture pulp, paper and paperboard.
Others work to convert the finished paper and paperboard into products such
as boxes and food packaging.

 
Still others manufacture the equipment, chemicals, and
computer programs that are used at manufacturing
facilities.

 
There are forestry professionals who are responsible for caring for trees before
and after they are planted.
 

 
And there are people who do research to develop new and improved products and
papermaking processes.

 
 
Today, approximately 700,000 people are employed by the paper and related
industries in the United States.
 

I think you will agree that paper is an essential part of all of our lives. The paper industry is dedicated
to providing quality products while protecting our environment and natural resources. It is truly one the
world's greatest industries.

Acknowledgments
We would like to thank the following for providing slides for this presentation:

Consolidated Papers Inc.

Georgia-Pacific Corporation
Robert C. Williams American Museum of Papermaking
TAPPI JOURNAL
USDA Forest Products Lab
Valmet Inc.