Paper. Something that we use First, regardless of age or location. Have you ever wondered,

Where exactly did paper originate from?

First the name. The word “paper” is derived from papyrus, Ancient Greek for the Cyperus papyrus plant. A very paper-like material was extracted from this plant, in Ancient Egypt where it was commonly used for documentation purposes. But the “true paper” we use today, thin sheets made from softened individual fibers, began in China.

The inventor of this “true paper” was revered as the patron saint of papermaking. Chinese court official, Ts’ai Lun, experimented with softening the fiber of materials, such as tree bark, hemp, rags and fish nets, until each filament was completely separate. He mixed water with the individual fibers in a large vat, then sifted a screen through the water, which caught the intertwined fibers. This resulted in a flexible yet strong paper, which was called “Distinguished T’sai’s Paper.” Records show that he described this modern method of papermaking to a Chinese emperor in 105 A.D. In other words, China was the only producer of paper and paper was indeed one of the biggest export materials from China to the rest of the world. While the countries saw this ‘true paper,’ they were clueless  how to make it themselves.

The story of how the Chinese secret of papermaking was revealed and spread to the west had to do with a war between Turks and the Chinese. In 751 A.D., the Chinese invaded Central Asia but lost a battle against the ruler of Samarkand. Many Chinese soldiers were captured and, among those captured, were paper-making craftsmen. To save their lives, they revealed the process of paper-making to the Samarkand troops. Legends say that is how Samarkand went on to become a hub for paper-making.

Slowly instead of hands machinery was put into place to produce paper with the arrival of the Industrial Revolution. The person who developed the printing press, Johannes Gutenberg, was a jeweller yet he invented something the entire world relies upon for paper.

Now that it has been over two thousand years since paper was discovered and continuously used in billions if not trillions in quantity, We stand in a position where the continuous use and production of paper from the bark, hemp, fibres and pulp of trees has led to depletion of forest resources. The consequences will be devastating. Deforestation is not the only problem we are facing though. An increase in the amount of landfills increases pollution. We are in dire need of a change. One solution is paper recycling.

Paper recycling, doesn’t sound too practical, how are we gonna take already used paper and make use of it? Well, I have the answer for you. We can convert the used paper back into pulp and the pulp can again be converted into new paper. But it has its own limitations. After about six recycling, the paper has to be discarded as it constantly becomes weaker.

Now why exactly would we recycle paper? To give you an idea, recycling just 1 ton of paper, saves about 17 trees, a whopping 7000 gallons (twenty-six thousand liters of water) , 4000 kilowatts of energy, resources that can now be put into better use. As humans, a species that places their morals at high value, we should realise that it is our duty to preserve the world that we call our own.

And there is a good news. Every year over 60% of the used paper in the entire world is recycled.