While gaining praise, some experts believe that although the production process of stone paper is low-carbon and energy-saving, it is still worth exploring whether it is truly environmentally friendly as an emerging thing.
First of all, the raw materials of stone paper are mainly calcium carbonate and high molecular polymers using petroleum as the basic raw materials. For my country's current consumption of nearly 90 million tons of paper products, it is obviously a waste of resources. In addition, scientific experiments have proved that it takes at least two to three hundred years for general plastics to degrade into environmentally friendly and less harmful fragments. Therefore, stone paper cannot be completely recycled and degraded. The renewable plant resources such as wood, reed and plant fiber paper with more than 60% waste paper as raw materials are easy to be recycled and degraded.
Secondly, in terms of product performance, stone paper needs to be added with polyethylene to make composite paper, similar to an ultra-thin "plastic paper". In comparison, traditional plant fiber paper has good absorbency, air permeability, printability, can be re-formed into pulp by blister, and is easily degraded under natural conditions. These characteristics are not possessed by airtight stone paper.
Again, in terms of technology, my country has accumulated rich experience in papermaking for thousands of years. Modern technology has made the production process less and less pollution to the environment, and large-scale enterprises have reached environmental protection standards. The use of calcium carbonate as a filler in the paper industry has a long history, and the current paper products have used up to close to 20%. Therefore, the use of calcium carbonate as a paper ingredient is no longer innovative.
