A side note ...
A friend is a collector of old books. He has documentation that a good
portion of the "rags" used for fine paper making in the early 18th
century were actually unwrapped from around Egyptian mummies. Tomb
raiders would collect and sell them and shiploads were offloaded along
the east coast of the US to be made into paper.
That fiber is actually Ramie, a bast fiber related to linen, that is
from the reeds that grow along river banks in northern Africa. It is
still in use as a clothing fiber today. primarily in Third World
countries. Cotton and linen rags are still in demand in the paper
industry but the dyes used to color fabric are more and more difficult
to remove which is why you are seeing an increase in "quality" papers
that are tinted rather than extremely white.
Wes
> A quick comment about forests/paper: From what I hear, there US
> forest is larger and in better condition now than ever. More trees,
> better trees, better management. Think of trees as a crop that's
> planted, nurtured, harvested, replanted.
>
> Sure -- you can point to some ugly clearcuts and to desecration of
> holy trees -- but by and large, there are more and better trees than
> ever. And papermaking uses less nasty chemicals and makes less
> pollution than ever.
>
> The moral of the story -- we won't have to switch to plastic toilet
> paper any time soon.
|