Which of these two resources produce more paper: hemp plants or trees?

Hemp wins this one quite easily. For a field 1 square km big (about 256 acres), hemp produces 4 times more paper than trees using a field the exact same size. Even more surprising is that it takes 80 times longer for trees to grow (20 years compared to 3 months for hemp) !

Only hydrogen and water is needed to make hemp paper, nothing that could hurt the ecosystem. Tree paper needs chlorine and strong acids to hold the fibers together. All this mess goes in the water we drink every day. Hemp fibers are large enough to hold together for a long time, while resisting to moisture and wear.

Interesting fact: the first bible was written on an hemp parchment. Wood paper can be recycled about 3 times but hemp paper can be recycled up to 8 times! Hemp is the only non-wood source for paper that can cover world wide production (see Hemp ; educating and harvesting).

DOMTAR is now conducting some tests to produce hemp paper. The results of these tests will be published here soon.

We must cease the destruction of our forests. Let's not forget that trees produce oxygen which is needed by all living creatures (including us!!).