Tiny Pieces of Paper can Turn Into Big Bucks!
The U.S. paper industry is one of the largest in the world, generating more than $100 billion annually, and employing a quarter of a million people. It's also one of the oldest industries in America, with a history that predates Columbus' discovery of America.
Research has shown that despite continued advances in technology that have rendered books obsolete and led to an exodus from printed media to electronic forms, papermaking still dominates the global market as well as North America's market for pulp and paper products exceeding $60 billion yearly...
- The U.S. Paper Association's History of Paper Making: http://www.papertodayonline.com/usa_paper_association/USA_Paper_Association/History_of_Papermaking.htm
The paper industry is also a low-tech industry, as can be seen in its supply chain: pulp mills produce pulp, which is turned into paper, for example. The entire process of making paper is really quite simple and does not require any high-tech components or processes.
Paper mills typically use pulping chemicals (such as sodium hydroxide) which are caustic and therefore dangerous to handle, but then again almost all industrial manufacturing uses hazardous materials and chemicals in one way or another...
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paper_mill#History_and_applications
In fact, the paper industry has a tremendous environmental burden on society, which is perhaps why the younger generation doesn't seem as interested in working in it:
The paper industry ranks first among industries for recycling waste and using it as a raw material for new products (40 percent), second for "reuse" (also 40 percent), and third for recovery of waste heat to generate industrial power. It accounts for 3 percent of total U.S. air emissions and 6 percent of water pollution by weight...
- http://www.paper-formats.org/documents/environmental/environmental_facts.pdf
The waste from paper production is also quite outrageous:
Large amounts of paper are made each year, containing both end-of-life materials and post-consumer recycled content found in the form of non-recycled fibres such as clippings, bits and pieces of waste paper... The major sector for paper recovery is for the preparation of new paper. Manufacturing of new paper accounts for 47 percent of total manufacturing waste, while recycling and preparing new papers account for 40 percent...
- http://www.paper-formats.org/documents/environmental/environmental_facts.pdf
With such a high percentage of paper that is recycled, you would think that the recycling industry itself would be doing fine, but it's not...
Recycling has increased in popularity over the past few years, especially in the United States, but the industry has become increasingly competitive and many other countries are of higher quality and quantity. A relatively weak U.S. recycling infrastructure could be an obstacle to growth for recyclers because it is difficult to obtain solid data on market conditions...
- http://www.recyclenewsdaily.com/article.cfm?NewsID=1100&action=detail
There are several reasons for this:
The poor economy has led to a decrease in consumers purchasing items that require paper packaging, making recyclers reluctant to open new facilities or expand existing ones. In addition to this, there is the cost of recycling - it is expensive compared to landfilling, and therefore many recyclers may have downsized their facilities or even closed. This industry's basic market of selling recycled goods has changed as well... While demand remains strong for high-quality recycled goods like newsprint, cardboard and mixed papers, markets have struggled with lower prices for lower-quality paper...
- http://www.recyclenewsdaily.com/article.cfm?NewsID=1100&action=detail
Low-quality paper is not a good source of recycled fibres, and that's a shame because these fibres can be turned into high-quality components (such as tiny pieces of paper to be used in money making systems). This is where the U.S. currency paper comes into play:
According to industry sources, about 50% of the U.S. currency in circulation today consists of old currency or "nonfit" notes that are unfit for circulation because they are damaged or worn out... The Federal Reserve estimates that it redeems about 1 'billion notes each year... The amount of currency being retired is increasing, mainly due to new bills being printed that have more security features, such as holographs. Old notes must be discarded and are not redeemable as legal tender...
- http://www.everythingforfinance.com/currency-paper-money/currency-paper-money.asp
The currency paper industry is arguably the most environmentally friendly industry there is:
This industry provides a number of benefits to society including recycling and employment because it turns the world's waste into paper, valuable materials and even usable goods with very little environmental cost...
- http://www.cradletocradleproducts.com/products/currency-paper-manufacturers.html
This is the industry that can make use of the old currency - and it's an industry that needs a boost, because currently it is operating on a fraction of its potential capacity:
The United States makes paper out of the discarded bank notes, old newspapers, shopping bags and other paper items known as "waste paper." In fact, about 140 million pounds of wastepaper makes up 80 percent of the primary fiber supply for US paper mills... However, US waste paper production has not kept up with demand...
- http://www.cradletocradleproducts.com/products/currency-paper-manufacturers.html
It's good to see that there are people trying to turn our waste into something useful, rather than just burning it and treating it as a final resting area for dead animals, which is the natural thing.
Besides paper production, the currency paper industry has many other uses:
What could be described as an "industry" of waste paper... The official machinery used at manufacturing plants is fairly complex, with machines for shredding and cutting up the unwanted material.
Conclusion
While the currency paper industry is only a small fraction of the total manufacturing industry (about 1%), it is still quite a big chunk. It makes use of some of the oldest parts of our society, and does it quite well. It's definitely an industry that I would like to see grow and prosper, rather than shrink by dying out.
Sources:
The Currency Paper Industry in the United States: Waste Paper Into Something Useful", http://everythingforfinance.com/currency-paper-manufacturers.asp, available at http://everythingforfinance.com/currency-paper-manufacturers.