First, let's find how paper is made, so we can then look for suitable alternatives. Generally speaking, paper is made from softwoods, such as spruce and pine. In order to obtain paper, we can't just cut the tree and get the material. Pulping is the important part that generates it. There is chemical and mechanical pulping, but both have the same end use, which is the prime matter for paper.

We already wrote on Green Start-Up about companies that developed alternative paper-production processes that divert trees from being the raw material, using more suitable materials, instead. One such example is Ukrainian startup Releaf Paper, which uses mechanical and chemical processes to turn 2.3 tons of fallen leaves into one ton of cellulose used for making paper products, saving the 17 trees required for this in the process.

"We are working only with the leaves that we are getting from the cities because we cannot use the leaves from the forest. It's not easy to collect them in the forest, and there is no need because there's an ecosystem. In a city, it’s a green waste that should be collected", company founder Valentyn Frechka explained.

Then there's Reel Paper, which uses bamboo-derived fibers to make paper, in a similar way that we use tree for manufacturing. Still, bamboo grows much faster than trees, at a rate of over one meter per day, making it great for producing toilet paper with minimal impact on the planet.

More alternatives to cutting trees

There are more alternative materials than we might first think of when finding paper-making resources. Agricultural waste, such as straw and sugar cane bagasse, as well as fiber crops and wild plants, like bamboo and hemp, can help us reduce the environmental footprint of the paper industry.

Paper made from sugar cane has, in fact, multiple use cases, not just for manufacturing paper goods. Due to its high-cellulose content, of around 45%, it can be used to make tougher products, as well, such as plywood. Wheat and kenaf are two other plants popular for paper-making in China, India and the US, to name a few.

Cotton paper, which is used to make money in some countries, is made from cotton liners, as well as used cotton from pieces of clothing, and it can be a good candidate for making paper, as it is durable and resistant to the elements, should it be exposed to rain, for example. Many important legal documents are being kept in a copy made of cotton paper due to its durability and properties to remain untouched for centuries.

Believe it or not, paper can be made out of rock, too! It's not quite rock-paper-scissors, but calcium carbonate, in combination with high-density polyethylene (a type of plastic), is used to make posters and leaflets, among other types of paper products. The drawback of this material is that it is not biodegradable, but rather photodegradable and compostable, meaning that specific mechanical processes using light sources can recycle this paper to be used in new promotional materials.

Recycled paper, best for new pieces of paper

Obviously, old pieces of paper that can be recycled are a great source of raw materials for new paper products, but to be able to use them, they need to be in good condition. We wrote about this subject on Green Start-Up before.

Briefly, after it's sorted, the paper is checked again for any contaminants and the good pieces are baled together and sent to a paper mill. At the mill, the bales of paper are shredded into small pieces, which go into lots of water and chemicals, such as hydrogen peroxide or sodium hydroxide. This process further breaks down the pieces of paper into paper fiber.

Recycled paper is used to create new paper products, including office paper, newspapers and cardboard. In the continuously developing and sustainable world that want to live in, paper is used to make eco-friendly shopping bags and egg cartons as well.

These are some of the most sustainable alternatives we currently have to prevent cutting down more forests that capture CO2 and keep the temperatures under control. It's important that we make sure we use these as much as possible, as dense forests are home to vast and complex ecosystems and they help stabilize the ground, as well as prevent flooding, as more storms hit our planet every year.