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You gotta have fiber!
Over the centuries, paper has been made from a wide variety of materials
-- wood pulp, rice, water plants, cotton, even old clothes! But no matter
what you use to make paper -- you need "fiber." Today's paper
fiber comes mainly from two sources -- pulpwood logs and recycled paper
products. In fact, much of the paper we use every day is a blend of new
and recycled fiber.
From log to pulp.
Much of the paper produced in Idaho is made from "waste" -- the
tree parts from logging and sawmill operations that can't be made into lumber.
After harvesting, trees are cut into logs and are transported to the mill.
At the mill, a debarker removes the bark from each log. The log is cut into
boards of varying sizes. The wood that's left over is then converted into
wood chips, about the size of corn flakes (though not as tasty in milk!).
The wood chips are then put into "pulp digesters" where they
are broken down by steam and chemicals into a gloppy pudding of cellulose
fibers and other wood components. In another process, the chemicals, wood
resins, and wood lignin (sort of a natural glue in the wood) are removed.
The cellulose fibers are cleaned and screened many times to get them ready
to be made into paper.
From pulp to paper.
The paper pulp (from wood chips, recycled paper, or both) is fed into the
paper-making machine. A pump sprays a thin layer of the liquid paper pulp
onto a moving wire screen. This screen can be up to 20 feet wide, and can
travel at speeds of 60 miles per hour. That's fast paper!
As the pulp is carried along by the screen, the water in it drops away,
and the cellulose fibers become matted together, forming paper. While the
paper is still damp, it is fed through a series of heated rollers which
press it and dry it. The paper is then spooled into huge rolls, cut into
various sizes, and converted into paper products.
From paper to more paper.
Recycling paper helps make sure we get the most out of every tree we use.
And it helps keep paper from clogging up our landfills. Each time
paper is recycled, the cellulose fibers get shorter, until eventually the
paper won't hold together. That's why most "recycled" papers contain
some new paper fibers mixed in with the old.
Want to see how tissue paper is made?
 CLICK HERE to see a short
video of the Potlatch Corporation tissue-making operation. This will take a minute to load and will appear in a separate window, so you can continue viewing our site.
More information about paper and recycling: http://www.paperrecycles.org/school_recycling/index.html.
 
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