A new shortage on the horizon
From
FOX News:
Toilet Paper Shortage: Good Raw Material Being Wiped Out
A shortage of high-quality paper for recycling could mean scratchy toilet tissue. To keep consumers happy and avoid any chafed rear ends, companies are now on a quest to find new paper supplies, according to an article in the current issue of Chemical & Engineering News (C&EN).
The problem: Consumers once could fill up large bins with their recycled newspapers, magazines and print paper. But as electronic communication surges, these sources of recycled paper are becoming scarce.
Used to have a copy and print business in Seattle. The good stuff has nice long fibers (makes the finished product soft) and each time the paper is recycled, the fibers get shorter and shorter until it's only good for pulp, cardboard and kraft products (pulp coffee caddies, packaging corners and pads, etc...)
Up in this neck of the woods, the Canadians urged farmers to grow poplar but the Canadian market for virgin poplar pulp (not eco-friendly) fell off so you see lots of stands of very spindly trees falling over each other. Crappy firewood but great for paper.
Posted by DaveH at January 11, 2013 9:39 PM