Stone paper is still in its formative years as a commercial material, but as people begin to hear about its properties it may soon become very common. In the last few years, there have been a couple of very successful Kickstarter campaigns for stone paper notebooks, including a brand we’ve supported from its first days – Stone. So we’ve helped answer the question, what is stone paper?
Stone paper is a completely non-toxic, biodegradable alternative to paper. It is suited for many types of printing including offset lithography and screenprint. True to the name, Stone paper consists mostly of calcium carbonate, a substance found in rocks and is completely tree-free. The paper will degrade safely, without the exhaustion of harmful gasses, and be completely gone in 9 to 12 months if left in nature. It can also be easily burned without the release of harmful gasses.
No trees, water, toxins or bleach are used in the production of Stone paper. Unused or excess Stone paper can be easily recycled into new Stone paper. Because it is tree free, and as a result fibre-free, it doesn’t absorb ink like traditional wood pulp paper and therefore uses 15 to 20% less ink during print in comparison to wood pulp paper. This results in an extremely sharp and crisp image.
So, what are the benefits of stone paper for your custom notebook?
Hardwearing and virtually impossible to tear
Water resistant any spills can simply be wiped clean without damage to your notes
Greaseproof without the fibre absorbency of wood pulp paper, stone paper simply deflects unwanted greasy marks
Sustainable production and degrading process are non-wasteful and non-toxic
The Environmental Impact
The most obvious difference between stone paper and traditional paper is the amount of raw material that is needed to produce the last. For producing stone paper no trees are cut and no water is used, it has low carbon emissions and it requires no acid, base or bleach during production.
Stone paper is recyclable; it needs to be recycled with Type 2 plastics because of HDPE. Beyond being recyclable, stone paper is photodegradable with 14-18 months of sunlight exposure. It’s not clear, however, what happens to the HDPE component after that process occurs.