Hemp paper

The first identified coarse paper, made from hemp, dates to the early Western Han dynasty, 200 years before the nominal invention of papermaking by Cai Lun, who improved and standardized paper production using a range of inexpensive materials, including hemp ends, around 2000 years ago.

[1] Recycled hemp clothing, rags, and fishing nets were used as inputs for paper production.

"[4] In 1916, U.S. Department of Agriculture chief scientists Lyster Hoxie Dewey and Jason L. Merrill created paper made from hemp pulp and concluded that paper from hemp hurds was "favorable in comparison with those used with pulp wood.

[8][9] Dried hemp has about 57% cellulose (the principal ingredient in paper), compared to about 40–50% in wood.

[15] The actual production of hemp fiber in the U.S. continued to decline until 1933 to around 500 tonnes per year.

Although the industrial hemp bred in the 1950s and 1960s almost completely lacks THC, cultivation has been banned in many countries in recent decades.

[20] A process for removing printing inks from recycled paper was invented by German jurist Justus Claproth in 1774.

It was not until the introduction of wood pulp in 1843 that paper production was not dependent on recycled materials from ragpickers.

[21] This can be compared to a typical pulp mill for wood fiber, which is never smaller than 250,000 tons per annum.

Today, hemp is used for cigarette paper among other things in Spain and in United Kingdom.

[27][28] Production costs are about five times higher[29] than for paper from wood since the infrastructure for using hemp is underdeveloped.