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Notes

19th Century Groundwood (Wood-Pulp) Paper Recycling

In the mid-19th century, there was an increased demand for books, writing material, etc. for at least three distinct reasons: growing scarcity of linen, technological advancements in paper production, and widespread education reform. Up to this time, paper manufacturers had used large quantities of discarded linen rags for paper; however, the amount of linen available for purchase, combined with paper being recycled, could not keep pace with the accelerating public need for mass paper production. So, manufacturers had to find an alternate resource or raw material, for paper production, and shifted from linen to wood-pulp. There is information available that supports the claim that linen was routinely recycled by paper manufactures for the production of books and writing paper. For example, in Cheap Bibles written by Leslie Howsam, there is mention of an auction where loose leaves are being purchased by manufactures for reuse: “paper manufacturers bid to purchase these sheets for recycling (‘remanufacture’)…”(90). This quote tells us that there were book auctions for purchasing bulk recyclable paper, at least in the United Kingdom, by the beginning of the 19th century. Yet, with all the information available concerning the recycling of linen paper, information on the recycling of groundwood paper has thus far been largely unattainable through available research material. The majority of information on this specific topic has been limited to brief mentions included in the larger topics of recycling and the development of paper production.

Two dates of importance for United States Paper recycling:

1690 The first paper mill to use recycled linen was established by the Rittenhouse family.

1897 The first major recycling center was started by the Benedetto family in New York City, where they collected rags, newpaper, and trash with a pushcart.

The significance of these dates show that linen was being recycled by the late 17th century, and it could be assumed that groundwood paper recycling was in practice in the United States by 1897 at the latest, since we know that a shift in raw materials for paper production from linen to wood-pulp began in the 1840s.

When it comes to the establishment of paper mills, the first paper mills in Europe began production in the early 12th century in Spain, and spread to Italy by the 14th Century. The first groundwood paper mill in the United States was established in 1867 in Massachusetts. The information that is lacking is whether or not these paper mills recycled. It is assumed that linen was continuously recycled because of its limited availabily, but it cannot be assumed with such a degree of confidence that paper made from trees, which were considered a seemingly unlimited resource, were routinely recycled.

Were wood-pulp books routinely returned or sold to publishers or paper manufacturers for recycling? If these materials were returned to publishers, who returned them? Was the material returned by upper-class citizens, lower-class citizens, or private book dealers? Or was the recycling of paper solely paper manufacturers reusing their own unusable products? Or were publishers recycling their misprinted sheets, loose leaves, bulk scraps bought from printers, and mass-produced unwanted, unsold reading material and writing material?

Reference

http://www.conservatree.com/learn/Papermaking/History.shtml http://www.pr.com/presrelease/15031 http://www.ipst.gatech.edu/amp/collection/museum_pm_usa.htm Howsam, Leslie. Cheap Bibles: Nineteenth Century Publishing and the British and Foreign Bible Society. Cambridge University Press. 1991.