3 ms·
Was the carbon not already sequestered when it was in the form of a tree?
by cheapsteak 8y ago
Was the carbon not already sequestered when it was in the form of a tree?
- tgb 8y agoI assume any serious paper production company replants the tree, so you start with a tree and end with a tree and landfilled paper.
- TeMPOraL 8y agoGiven strommen's statement about landfilled paper turning into methane, doesn't that mean paper manufacturing is basically a carbon dioxide->methane conversion operation?
- tgb 8y agoYes, the possibility I described was for if they did not biodegrade significantly. More reading makes it sound like they degrade in weeks, with a few exceptions.
- mchannon 8y agoNo, it wasn’t. Trees (esp. those suitable for paper) either burn or fall over and rot, both of which release most of the carbon they used to store. Fossil fuels used to be trees, and they were well sequestered. Paper would eventually become something similar when buried.