4 ms·

In the distant past, old clothes used to be gathered and turned into rag paper [1]. It's a shame that we use so many synthetics now as that probably drastically

In the distant past, old clothes used to be gathered and turned into rag paper [1]. It's a shame that we use so many synthetics now as that probably drastically reduces the re-usability. Perhaps we could add the funguses that decompose plastics into the mix and create a full-circle clothing-to-paper or fabric process. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rag-and-bone_man https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rag-and-bone_man

fakedang 6y ago
Old clothes are still used to make paper in many developing countries.
- dhosek 6y ago
  Cloth-based paper is in nearly every respect superior to wood pulp–based paper. The big challenge with rags for paper is the die in the cloth.
- dawnerd 6y ago
  This is probably where all of the unsold Goodwill clothes go. They bale it up (at least around here) and sell it by the lb.
solarmist 6y ago
Thanks for this! This makes the song[1] by the White stripes make so much more sense. I didn't realize rag and bone man was a particular thing, I thought it was just something similar to what was called a gypsie lifestyle or similar in the past. [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=epHneMeLyis https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=epHneMeLyis
deleted 6y ago
[deleted]
ComputerGuru 6y ago
I believe this is also the real reason why newspapers are sometimes called "rags" - although now it's been retconned into a a derogatory term. Cotton paper was way more expensive than pure wood-pulp paper, and far superior to it in terms of clarity, resolution of printed material, and durability.
dehrmann 6y ago
> It's a shame that we use so many synthetics now Not just synthetics, there are a lot of <10% synthetic/cotton blends. I'm not sure if there's a good way to separate the fibers.