Terraskin is a paper that is made entirely from rocks and resin. Its production uses neither trees nor water. The rock mainly comes from construction waste material. The resin is mainly post-industrial recycled material.
TerraSkin is a combination of large amounts of mineral powder (>75%) with a small quantity (<25%) of non-toxic resin combined to create an environmentally friendly paper.…Second, as TerraSkin contains high proportions of inorganic mineral powder, when the end user is done with the TerraSkin product, the used paper will degrade back into
mineral powder when left out in nature for approximately three to nine months.…The Calcium Carbonate mainly comes from waste material of the building and construction industry, such as marble and limestone scraps, which are then ground down to a fine powder like chalk. The [resin] is partly post-industrial recycled, and acts as the binder for the Calcium Carbonate…
…Along with all of these sustainable advantages, TerraSkin also has beautiful printing capabilities and a unique texture and feel. Because the paper is fiberless, it does not absorb ink like regular paper and also uses 20-30% less ink than regular paper. Images stay much crisper and cleaner because the ink doesn’t bleed. TerraSkin is water- resistant and inherently strong and durable.
My fiancee got one of these the other day as a shopping bag. It really works to hold things. I wonder how much it costs.
TerraSkin [Official Site] (Thanks to C-side!)
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Rock and resin eh? Why do we have to work so hard using technology to create something sustainable when we already have an easier answer. Hemp. Wake up America.
It is pretty idiotic that we have turned a cold shoulder to that plant. It’s like the swiss army knife of the plant kingdom.
Hey Woody! I loved you in Zombieland!
bbbbbut drugs!
Oh yeah I forgot about that….IT GIVES US WEED TOO……YAY!
The variety of hemp used to create paper/clothes/etc cannot get you stoned as they only have trace amounts of THC.
If everyone used hemp and weed this society would be a lot less uptight.
Yeah! Put that in your pipe and smoke it!
..but OH NOES, IS TEH ILLEGAL DRUGS, WE’LL ALL BECOME TEH POTHEADS, THINK OF TEH CHILDRENS!!!11!
Sheesh. Humans are stupid. Of COURSE it’s a good idea.
The idea in TFA is good too though because it’s using otherwise waste materials.
The environmental issue with paper is not the loss of trees – almost all of the wood that goes into paper production (at least in the US) is from tree farms. The issue is the energy- and water- intensive processing, which your solution does nothing to correct.
Also, while paper can be made from the softer parts of a plant, it’s more efficient to make it from the woody parts. Trees have more wood than bushes do.
Paper production is also extremely polluting.
If the people who support hemp so strongly were really only concerned with the environment, then we would hear just as much about kenaf, abaca, esparto grass or fiber wastes from other industries like cotton from clothing, wood from building, or sugar cane.
Sounds neat. Would be great if they became the replacement for all of those retail store shopping bags. What is the story when it comes to cost? I see that it requires less ink, but what about the overall cost from A-Z?
Will this turn tree hugging hippies into rock hugging hippies? “Stop digging holes for paper”
Well, a rock is less renewable than a tree, since a rock takes millions of years to form (or maybe thousands, I guess I don’t really know). A tree only takes a few decades.
You can make paper from bamboo, too. Unfortunately, but predictably, demand is threatening the world’s bamboo forests.
People already do
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&safe=off&client=firefox-a&rls=org.mozilla%3Aen-US%3Aofficial&hs=bfE&q=mountain+top+removal&aq=0&oq=mountain+top&aqi=g10
So, should we plant a tree, let it grow, cut it down to make paper, and then plant another tree to let it grow? Or ….
Should we dig a hole in the ground, rip out rocks, leave the hole behind with a fence around it, and turn those rocks into paper?
Whoops, I need to learn to read. It’s recycled.
Well, the minerals used are a by-product of another application, so no one is digging up rocks to make paper.
What I wonder about is what’s involved in the paper-making proccesses, how much energy is consumed in the production, whether it’s more or less than other types of paper.
But wait people…Think of the rocks!
I know another rock that was used to makes sheets and blankets and many other things. It’s called asbestos, the magic mineral!
Excellent insulator, not flammable … works great for brake pads, cigarette filters … I don’t see what’s wrong with it!
Hope that was with sarcasm. If you never seen an electron microscope image of a asbestos fiber tearing a white blood cell up from the inside, you would never understand why it’s such a regulated material now.
Not calling your bluff but what you said sounded really interesting and I’d like to see it!
You’re really questioning whether or not he was being sarcastic?
The real question is, how is this going to affect the game of rock, paper, scissors? If the paper is made of rock, is it still paper?
I think at that point scissors becomes supreme ruler.
What if the minerals in the paper dull the scissors over time, eventually causing them to not be able to cut?
duh! rock gets a saving throw of d20 +2 blunting modifier against scissors. 17 or higher to succeed.
You win the thread for that comment, and your picture of delicious pie.
Obviously, the game will become Rock, Scissors, Chuck Norris. Of course, it will then be impossible to win.
What if it was Chuck Norris with a Rock (not The Rock), Jack Bauer with scissors, and Steven Seagal (who is, at this point, more fictional than fact) with paper? Walker vs. Jack vs. Lawman? Head ‘splode.
You forgot Vin Diesel with nothing but a blank stare.
Now I know how it feels to laugh and inhale a chunk of peanut butter cookie at the same time.
It’s a non-issue, really. With the advent of Rock Paper Scissors Lizard Spock, nobody uses Rock or Paper anymore.
You know, rocks don’t grow on trees.
The big environmental advantage seems to be the fact that no water is used in the process. Does that offset the problems caused by mining rock? Not so sure…
Wait! “Fiancee”, Ben? I’m going to throw a piece of paper through your window tonight!
So how to they cut this magical material? Using rock-paper scissors?
The rocks aren’t mined. The calcium carbonate mainly comes from construction waste materials.
But theoretically, if this stuff took off, and there were a need for it, the rocks would need to be mined.
Trees are grown just to be turned into mulch, which shows that there isn’t enough scrap/waste wood to supply the need.
Same thing will happen here with mining rocks if this product becomes
poplar (pun intended).
Not exactly. That just means that it’s currently more cost-effective to grow trees instead of collecting and processing wood waste. Cost-effective, however, is not the same as environmentally prudent.
OK, where’s this resin coming from? Trees, once again, back to the resource that they are working so hard to conserve. Synthetic? Same questions of resources again.
Nice effort tho.
..The Calcium Carbonate mainly comes from waste material of the building and construction industry, such as marble and limestone scraps, which are then ground down to a fine powder like chalk. The [resin] is partly post-industrial recycled, and acts as the binder for the Calcium Carbonate…
“It really works to hold things.” Heh. Not exactly knocking your socks off, I take it?
Finally, something I can use that will always win at Rock-Paper-Scissors.
“1..2..3.. Scissors!”
“TerraSkin! It’s a rock and a paper, biotch!!”
There is absolutely no need to be afraid of using paper. Recycling it is actually worse than using a new sheet of paper. Paper comes from tree farms that are specifically made for paper, just like how apples come from apple farms made for apples. I don’t see anybody getting upset when you consume an apple! Then when you recycle paper, you are using more energy and polluting a lot more than when you use new paper. The way they get all the ink out is by using tons and tons of chemicals, chemicals that are absent from the new paper process. You are not killing tons of trees as tree huggers would like you to think- you are actually planting more trees by using more paper! Those figures they give you about missing trees, well in the US there are actually more trees today then there was 100 or so years ago. And all those missing trees are actually coming from natives in the rainforest knocking down the trees for their own purposes.
I’m not afraid of using paper–in fact, my job kind of depends on it. But regardless of the renewable nature of trees on tree farms, our best bet is not to use paper that we don’t need to use.
Shhh! You’re spilling too many secrets! You were supposed to let people think that spending endless resources and money “recycling” is good for the planet! How dare you go and spoil the gravy train … and years of gross manipulation of the masses … using the tool of “reason”!
FWIW, according to Penn & Teller, the only form of recycling which is actually beneficial or efficient is aluminum cans. To extract aluminum from ore is energy-intensive (moreso than other metals), so reusing aluminum that’s already been extracted requires less energy and effort.
That P&T episode has itself been debunked. Their entire point was based on the opinion of one expert, that opinion being based on a single 1989 study. More recent studies have determined that recycling does more good than harm. http://www.de-fact-o.com/fact_read.php?id=62
Don’t rely on P&T for your facts. They are entertainers. Several of their more controversial episodes have been proven wrong.
That P&T episode has itself been debunked. Their entire point was based on the opinion of one expert, that opinion being based on a single 1989 study. More recent studies have determined that recycling does more good than harm. http://www.de-fact-o.com/fact_read.php?id=62
Don’t rely on P&T for your facts. They are entertainers. Several of their more controversial episodes have been proven wrong.
I also have some paper made of rocks and resin. It’s called sandpaper.