Interesting and Fun Facts about Paper

  • Chinese were the first nation in the world who started producing paper by hand. This happened almost 2000 years ago.
  • Oldest surviving trace of papyrus comes from 3000 BC Egypt.
  • Watermarks on paper were first used in 13th century Italy.
  • Paper came to Europe via Arab traders who learned its secrets from the Chinese.
  • Machine that extracts and prepares tree fibers for papermaking is called Hollander.
  • Recycling one ton of paper saves 17 trees!
  • Largest producers of paper by quantity in the world are US and Canada. After them come Finland, Japan and Sweden.
  • Largest producer of paper by volume is not America, but China. As of 2011 they have 24.9% market share of paper production, with US having 18.8%.
  • In 1999 average American came in contact with approximately 354 kg of paper.
  • City of Phoenix, USA, manages to collect around 100 thousand tons of recycled material per year, and 75% of it is paper.
  • Toilet paper started being produced in late 9th century China.
  • Use of paper is growing with each passing year.
  • The oldest European document written on paper comes from 1109. It was a deed of Sicillian king King Roger II written in Greek and Arabic.
  • 42% of industrial wood industry is dedicated to paper production.
  • 37% of US paper pulp comes from recycled paper.
  • Paper industry is the 4th largest contributor of the greenhouse gas emissions in the US.
  • In the last 200 years, 50% of Earth’s forests were cleared or burned.
  • Every day Americans buy around 62 million newspapers and throw out around 44 million of them.
  • During its lifetime, one American citizen uses 465 trees for its paper needs.
  • Around 73% of every landfill is paper and cardboard boxes.
  • First American paper mill was established in 1690.
  • First book that was printed from an industrially made paper was produced in 1804.