Hemp Marijuana Facts

Hemp makes good paper

Hemp plants are able to be used in their entirety to make paper by using the pulp, also known as the hurd, and the fiber, also known as the bast. Ancient China made the first batch of paper out of hemp fibers, and it has been used ever since. While fiber paper often appears rough, brittle, thin or tough, the pulp-made paper is just not as durable. Pulp-made paper is able to be made thicker, softer and easier than fiber-made paper, and most common paper users prefer the results of pulp-made paper. Most paper made today uses chemicals to break down the pulp from cut down trees, but pulp-made paper from hemp plants is able to be made entirely without chemicals. Many of the papers made from hemp plants combine the bast and the hurd, leaving no waste. Hemp baste is used to create a very strong fiber-made paper, and the entire process requires no chemicals.

Hemp-based papers are also able to be made without the acids that are required when making tree-based papers, keeping the environment cleaner and keeping the paper more affordable. However, the responsibility ultimately falls on consumers to make choices that are going to benefit the environment and remove the hazardous chemicals from the environment. It can be simple choices such as not buying bleached toilet paper or paper towels to make a difference. Just keep in mind that publishers, archives and libraries order paper that is acid-free on a regular basis to keep their documents from falling apart and discoloring from the chemicals, while paper that was originally made from hemp would have lasted these companies’ centuries.