Let’s Unravel the Enigma of Where do Paper Bags Come from?

The most commonly used paper bags are nearly an essential item that you carry along while going out to run some errands. These paper bags offer a greener alternative to the single-use plastic bags, as the paper bags are highly biodegradable. Paper bags are not only lightweight and user-friendly, but also very kind to the environment. 

However, the durable yet light paper bags endorsing reusability and being kind to Mother Earth have a thorough backstory of the transformation process. There is truly a lot more to the handy paper bag than meets the eye. So let’s ride along the evolution path together from tree to bag to know how paper bags are made? 

Let’s Get a Better Grasp of the Paper Bag Material

The exceedingly crisp and sturdy surface of the paper bags that you use and run errands with is mainly acquired from the woods, which is a renewable resource. Paper bag source can also be recycled paper, which ensures a highly eco-friendly manufacturing process.

A paper bag is made by undergoing thorough processing of paper pulp, which is obtained from the wood of trees, after having them chopped into small pieces, not greater than 2 inches. These wood chunks are then treated with magical chemicals to form wood pulp. 

To know the magical transformation process in detail, let's read on the blog!

• Eying the Trees into the Woods 

The paper material of the paper bags comes straight from the woods, which involves lots and lots of trees. Paper bag manufacturers particularly seek to look out for the trees that are responsibly grown, while adhering to the regulatory guidelines of legal certifications provided by FSC and PEFC. 

Both these regulatory agencies serve as a credible authorization that the paper bag complies with the sustainable production practices. 

So, the sustainably harvested trees are selected to obtain the wood from the forests known to implement and practice sustainability. 

• Chopping Off the Woods into Wood Chips 

The wood from the giant trees is then chopped off into smaller pieces to collect/make the wood chips. These are then ready for further rigorous processing to transform this finely chopped wood into the smooth and high-quality paper surface of the bags. 

Wood chips harvested from sustainable forest management provide a renewable supply chain of raw materials to the packaging industry. 

• Pulping Process Explained 

Now begins the real deal. The collected wood chips are good to undergo pulping, which is the real end game to form the paper. All the wood chunks are processed into pulp by applying intense heat and pressure, which retains the cellulose fibers, which gives you the fibrous material, paper pulp that is. 

Pulping is done either mechanically or chemically. Both techniques are briefly mentioned below:

• Mechanical Pulping: 

The paper pulp formed via the mechanical method has high durability, which makes it the perfect choice to form the very commonly used and seen everyone’s favorite brown paper bags. So now your quest of “where do brown paper bags come from” finally gets answered. 

• Chemical Pulping: 

Chemical pulping is an advanced technique that uses an eco-friendly approach to produce fine-quality paper pulp. 

• Kraft Process Decoded 

The crucial pulping process in the case of paper bag manufacturing is incomplete without the kraft process, which is a must. This process of a big deal mainly involves extensively cooking the wood pieces in a mixture of sodium hydroxide and sodium sulfide. 

The Kraft process removes all the natural glue, lignin, that is, from the paper pulp, while leaving behind all the cellulose fibers, all intact and stronger than before. 

The result is a mighty, durable, and toughened paper pulp that is famously known for its strength. That makes it a stronger choice to curate rough and tough paper bags with high durability. 

• Transforming the Pulp into Paper 

Once done with purifying the pulp and making it stronger than ever, here comes the stage of beefing up the paper. Paper manufacturers use bleaching chemicals like oxygen, chlorine dioxide, or hydrogen peroxide to get the crisp, bright, neat, and clean paper. 

The white and bright paper is then good to go to make durable and robust paper bags. 

To impart enhanced durability and resistance to moisture and make the bags highly waterproof, sizing agents are to the rescue. Paper is treated with champion chemicals, i.e., alkyl ketene dimer (AKD) and rosin. Both these heroic chemicals enhance the absorbing capacity and durability of the paper. That prepares the bags to carry the particulars packed without having any fear of getting torn or damp. 

• Finishing Look of the Paper

The pulp is molded into the flat sheets of paper and is extensively dried to remove all the extra water from the pulp. The dried paper sheets then pass through the heated cylinders to minimize the moisture content, bringing it down within the range of 4% to 8%. This gives a well-rounded look to the papers while adding more to their durability. 

 The paper’s width, thickness, and texture are flexibly personalized by the manufacturers, depending upon the type of bag the paper is destined to form. 

The finished paper is then ready to undergo further processing that involves cutting into any specified sizes and elegantly customized into any premium appeal. Which then becomes the most frequently seen and used lightweight, eco-friendly, and durable paper bag next door. 

To Sum it Up

Lightweight, easy-peasy paper bags are here to the rescue to minimize the usage of single-use plastic bags to reduce land pollution. These light, thin, yet toughened and durable paper bags have an interesting evolution process, which covers their magical journey from tree to bag. 

These bags can be flexibly customized into any elegant appeal, giving a rustic appeal to the bags with sheer elegance. Contact us now at [email protected] to know thoughtful ways of transforming the paper bags into a variety of eccentric ways.