Tree–Free Papers

We offer several different types of paper. Below gives more information about each type of paper.

Kenaf Paper

A cousin to cotton and okra, kenaf has its roots in Africa and Asia. For thousands of years, kenaf has provided fiber for rope, sacking and rugs, while its tender seedlings have served as a nutritious vegetable. Its value as a papermaking fiber in the United States was uncovered in the 1950s by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which undertook an exhaustive search for crops capable of augmenting or replacing the need to cut trees to make paper. The Department concluded that kenaf presented the best alternative from among nearly 200 plant species studied.

Kenaf is a fast-growing annual plant, reaching 12 to 15 feet in just five months. Each acre devoted to kenaf can annually out produce the amount of fiber in an acre of Southern Pine, one of the most productive trees used in papermaking.

Grown by farmers in the southern United States, kenaf already has demonstrated its value in crop rotation systems, and is thriving in areas where more traditional crops have proven to be unproductive. It's fast growth cycle and thick canopy crowd out competing weeds, limiting the need for herbicide applications. Its leaves are plowed back into the soil to recycle nitrogen and other nutrients.

To makes its paper, Crane uses the long "bast" fibers on the outside of the kenaf stalk. The remaining core fiber is suitable for other sustainable products, such as absorbents for oil spills, potting soil and animal litter.

Continuum Kenaf paper is made from 50 percent kenaf fiber and 50 percent recovered cotton rag. Kenaf White is elemental chlorine-free. Kenaf Natural is processed chlorine-free.

Recycled Denim

Back in 1801, the women of Berkshire County in western Massachusetts saved their used cotton and linen household rags for Zenas Crane's paper mill. Although we no longer ask our neighbors for their rags, we still make paper from these traditional raw materials, including America's favorite fabric: denim.

Americans have had a love affair with denim for 150 years. Denim's long, strong cotton fibers stand up under the toughest tasks while making a very American fashion statement. Denim also happens to make an exceptional paper. That's why we've used it as part of our recipe for U.S. currency for decades. It's tough and it wears well.

Crane has transformed denim's strength and character into a paper with a unique personality. Denim Blues blends the time-tested quality of durable, cotton rag paper together with the comfort and style of your favorite pair of jeans.

And that's no accident. We use the trimmings from denim clothing made by several leading manufacturers in the United States. These partnerships not only save a lot of trees, but also divert tons of scraps from the landfill each year.

So if you care about quality and environmental responsibility, and have a flair for fashion, we think Denim Blues are a good fit. Continuum Denim Blues are 100 percent recovered cotton denim, elemental chlorine-free.

Old Money

Crane proudly has made paper for U.S. currency since 1879. Even though U.S. currency, made from recovered cotton and linen fibers – not trees – is one of the most durable papers in the world, the Federal Reserve System takes millions of pounds of worn-out bills from circulation each year and disposes of them in landfills.

Old Money is 100 percent recycled, featuring 30 percent post-consumer currency and 70 percent recovered cotton and meets or exceeds all federal post-consumer content standards into the 21st century.

Industrial Hemp

Industrial hemp is a raw material with an image problem. Until the 1930s, the hemp plant had served for centuries as one of the world's most valuable sources of fiber. It was used for thousands of products, from marine rigging and sails to fine laces. Adventurous settlers traveled west in Conestoga wagons covered with hemp canvas and worked in jeans made from hemp cloth. For more than two centuries, hemp was a valuable cash crop for American farmers.

But industrial hemp, tarred by the reputation of its cousin, was effectively banned in the United States in the 1930s, even though it contains insignificant amounts of THC, the drug found in marijuana. However, it was to be recognized once again for its importance to America. In 1942, with the United States facing a disastrous shortage of war–time fiber, the U.S. government called upon all patriotic farmers to grow "Hemp for Victory." Hundreds of thousands of acres of this versatile plant were grown to supply our armed forces with the raw material for shoelaces, parachutes and marine rigging. Despite its obvious value to our farmers and to our nation's defense, once hostilities ceased, industrial hemp again was banned.

But interest in this plant as a producer of high-quality, sustainable fiber has resurfaced worldwide with concern about the paper industry's voracious appetite for trees. Canada has authorized farmers to grow it commercially. Several U.S. states have legislation pending that would legalize and regulate production of industrial hemp. Once called the "New Billion-Dollar Crop" by Popular Mechanics magazine, hemp may soon prove to be a major source of paper fiber and a new profitable crop for American farmers. Our hemp paper is pulped and milled right here in the U.S., with fibers imported, for the moment, from European farms.

Continuum Hemp paper is made with 50 percent hemp fiber and 50 percent recovered cotton rag, elemental chlorine-free.