Paper Products

Environmental Impact

Paper is both biodegradable and a renewable resource, which means in consumption and waste terms, its environmental impact is relatively small compared to the many more-toxic and bulky waste products that are found in everyday garbage. However, the chemicals, water, and electricity used in its manufacture are considerable—and these are non-renewable resources—and certain types of chemicals used in paper production are toxic. In addition, if waste paper is sent to a landfill, it releases carbon dioxide emissions. Further, forest resources are not always as renewable as one may like to think. These environmental impacts can be greatly reduced by recycling (paper being one of the most easily and cheaply recyclable products in everyday use) and by conscientious consumption practices.

History

The word paper comes from papyrus, the plant that was first used for making a medium for writing in ancient Egypt in 3100 b.c.e. Papyrus continued to be used as a main writing material in Egypt and some neighboring regions in the wider Middle East for over three millennia, through the Roman period. Despite the use of papyrus as a writing medium since the invention of writing in the Middle East, which heralded the start of recorded history and brought an end to prehistory, papyrus is technically not considered to be paper, although it provided the etymology for the word. With papyrus, the plant stalks are not pulped but are kept intact and are interwoven together and pressed dry. The invention of paper by pulping materials and mixing them with water, the basic method still used today, occurred in China and is generally attributed to Ts'ai Lun, an official in the royal court, in approximately 105 c.e. Prior to this time, the main writing medium in China had been silk, an expensive luxury item. Ts'ai Lun's paper was made from pulping a mixture of rags and other organic material, a procedure involving textile recycling.

Around 700 c.e., the Arabs acquired the knowledge of papermaking from the Chinese. The Arabs used mainly linen from the flax plant to make their paper, already widely grown because of its use in textile production. Paper technology soon spread throughout the Middle East and also to Spain, then [Page 659]under Arab rule. However, it did not spread to the rest of Europe until several centuries later after the Christians drove the Moors out of Spain; along with everything else, they took over the paper mills and learned the skills involved in making paper out of linen as well as out of rags. The highest-quality paper was still, however, produced in the Middle East, and Europeans began trading to acquire it. Writing on parchment (made from animal skins) continued in Europe throughout the Middle Ages and beyond, when rag and cloth paper and paper made from plants such as flax started being manufactured in Europe. A watershed in paper consumption came with the invention of the printing press by the German Johannes Gutenburg in 1440. This introduced a method of printing with movable type sets, including metal molds and oil based inks, which allowed mass production of printed books for the first time. This innovation transformed social, political, and intellectual communication channels. Previously, books were scarce items that were copied to order and reserved mainly for highly selective subject matter, such as religious books, scientific treatises, and maps.

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