Worcester Democrat and the ledger-enterprise. (Pocomoke City, Md.) 1921-1953, 1922-12-02
SAVE NEWSPAPERS
To SAVE FORESTS
$500 Tons Gathered Daily Will
Equal the Daily Cut on About
275,000 Acres.
PERFECT DE-INKING PROCESS
Agricultural Department Conducts
Laboratory Tests and Finally Per-
fects Process to Use
Old Newspapers.

Washington, d. C.-Saving old news
papers that they may be used again
in the manufacture Of newsprint may
seem far removed from the problems
of forest conservation, but as mat
ter of fact it Is directly connected
with the work In which the forest serv-
ice of the United States Department
Of Agriculture Is interested. This
branch OF the governments many &C.
tivities has recently been conducting
q series of experiments in the de-ink-
ing process and now announces that
It has been perfected and is practi-
cable.
About $500 tons of old newspapers
can be gathered daily In the larger
cities, it Is estimated, and turned into
newsprint by this process. In terms
Of forest acreage this means roughly
the saving Of the cut each year on
about 275,000 acres. This acreage car
ries crop not produced in year,
but spruce forest requiring 100 years
or longer to grow. That Is regarded
as an important saving, in view Of the
fact that the daily consumption of
newsprint in the United States is APP
proximtaely 1000 tons.
In it's modern development the pro-
duction Of newsprint depends upon
the forest for it's raw material. The
present supply, coming largely from
mills In the northeast and lake states
tc IN thu TTnitod
States now seriously depleted, or from
less accessible forests In Canada. The
latter now furnish 65 per cent Of
the raw pulp used by mills In this
country.
Raw Material Scarce.
Many of these mills, representing
immense investments, no longer have
d supply of raw material of their own,
but are dependent either on foreign
supply of pulp or on pulpwood that
must be hauled leng distances in the
United States. Some Of these mills
have their own supply for only ten or
twenty years in advance, and but one
mill is known that has a supply strict
ly its own that is good for more than
half a century.
The increasing distances to the fast
receding forests mean added freight
costs and higher priced product,
while hanging over mills operating on
imported pulp Is the ever-present pos
sibility Of embargo, even now far from
a theoretical menace. Thus the incen-
tive to the development of de-inking
process is apparent.
The use of old paper stock for the
manufacture Of paper is very DID, and
we find mention Of the process in Den
mark as early as 1896.
1t is only in recent years, however,
that 1t has been realized that 1t would
not only be good business to utilize
the enormous waste represented in
printed paper, but was an absolute
necessity if the consumption Of news
print continues to grow and the sup
ply of spruce timber to diminish.
Early in 1921 the forest products
laboratory of the Department Of Ag-
riculture undertook series of COM
parative tests to determine the eff
cheney Of process using bentonite to
accomplish the heretofore almost i'm
possible task Of washing all the carbon
black out Of the macerated pulp after
1t had been loosened by alkalies. S.
D. Wells, the engineer in charge Of
the experiments, now reports that they
were successful.
Find Right Dope.
"In de-inking printed paper and espe-
clally newspaper" says Mr.. Wells, ut
is comparatively easy to loosen the
carbon black by dissolving the varnish
Of the printing ink by use Of alkalies.
Such treatment will not injure ground
wood pulp and If the carbon black
could be completely washed out after
liberation, a satisfactory material
would be obtained.
UNFORTUNATELY the f1bers Of the paper
serve as very effective filter in
particles of carbon and
tfef%fs MS of washing in COM
mon use that=.s-l permit the complete
removal without excessive loss Of pulp
or expenditure of time, water and
power that are prohibitive. In fact,
point seemed to be reached beyond
which 1t is impossible to remove the
remaining traces of ink. With benton
lite, however, we have Substance that
will pass through ordinary filters and
with its enormous surface, on account
of the extreme fineness of its parti-
cles will carry all the carbon black
along with it,
'"The possibilities of q process for
the recovery of old newspaper stock
are apparent to any one familiar with
the paper industry" says Mr.. Wells.
"When the price paid for old paper
stimulated collection it is reported
that about $4,000 tons per month
were collected in Chicago, Of which 40
per cent was news. During the same
period Cleveland Is reported to have
handled 800 tons per day. Of which $50
tons were news.
"In our large metropolitan centers
probably $500 tons per day were col