BAGASSE PAPER

Bagasse paper, what is it?

At Bright Orca we always are looking for innovative ways to help the environment and provide high quality tools for our community to perform their best work. During our research we came across bagasse paper which is a paper created using only the fibers left behind (typically regarded as waste) when sugarcane is processed into raw sugar and we quickly discovered the many benefits of this paper over conventional paper. With this information in hand we have launched the Bright Orca Journals using 100% bagasse fibers for the internal paper of our notebooks and we wanted to share the research we completed with you.

Bagasse is the term used to describe the fibrous pulp left behind after sugarcane stalks are crushed to extract the sugar juice that is then further processed into the sugar one can buy at a grocery store. It is commonly observed that for every ten tons of sugarcane processed you yield approximately three tons of wet bagasse. This bagasse is then either dried or slightly fermented for the fibers to be used in animal feed, burned for energy production, or further refined into biofuels. However, these processes release the carbon that had been captured by the sugarcane plant back into the atmosphere and contributes to global warming.

Interestingly, sugarcane fibers have been known to be suitable for paper production since the late 1930’s but the product has been slow to gain popularity in Western countries, largely due to the comparatively high cost of bagasse paper relative to conventional paper. However, significant improvements in the manufacturing of bagasse paper, paired with an increased awareness of its environmental benefits, have led to an increased availability of this material that we at Bright Orca hope to help accelerate even further.

The world is becoming increasingly conscious of how it uses the natural resources available for industrial purposes. While wood pulp paper has traditionally been an excellent option due to the abundance of forests, we are quickly realizing that there are better uses of that wood than grinding it up for paper production. Bagasse paper can be viewed as an ecologically friendly alternative to wood paper, allowing those timber resources to either be left in the wilderness or be used more effectively for higher value activities such as home building.