Hemp For Paper

Hemp vs. Wood for Paper

"From 75-90% of all paper was made with Cannabis Hemp fiber until 1883: books, bibles, maps, paper money, stocks, bonds, newspapers, etc., ...and just about everything else was printed on hemp paper."3

"Hemp's biggest contribution to the world's economy and ecology could well be as a part of a return to plant based papers. Half of all trees cut down are used to make paper, and deforestation is a serious environmental crisis, weakening our ecosystems, topsoil and watersheds, as well as increasing the greenhouse effect."

"One acre of annually grown hemp may spare up to four acres of forest from the current practice of clear cutting."

Hemp fiber paper has many beneficial characteristics, including high tensile strength, opacity, tearing resistance, wet strength, and folding endurance. It can be recycled 7 times while maintaining a suitable substrate and surface for modern printing purposes, compared with 3 times for tree paper. Hemp has a low lignin content, so a non-Kraft, non-chlorine bleach mill is feasible.