Students will experience how simple it is to recycle paper. Students create their own paper using the pulp from scrap paper.
Paper is created from plants, most commonly the wood of trees.
Cellulose is one of the most common substances in plants and helps give them their shape, from the stalk of cellery to the trunk of a tree. When we create a pulp from wood, spare plant materials, or scrap paper, we are ripping apart the strong fibers of cellulose that were in the original material. Luckily, we have not permanently damaged them. When pulp is dried, the cellulose fibers will reconstruct themselves and become strong again. If we dry the pulp in a flat, thin shape, the fibers will dry into strong, writable paper.