All you need to know about stone paper.

TLDR; Paper made from stone means more trees in the ground, less wasted water and zero chemicals or bleaches entering the environment. It’s made in a solar-powered factory. It’s waterproof and tear-resistant. It’s not perfect as it contains a small amount of plastic, but ours is from recycled plastic bottles, plant waste, and other non-virgin sources.

The more detailed explanation:

What exactly is “stone paper?“

Stone paper is made from calcium carbonate and plastic - the former from limestone or marble mining cast-offs and the latter from high-density polyethylene (HDPE). The calcium carbonate is ground into a fine powder and mixed with a small amount of HDPE in an 80/20 mix. A Good Company does not use virgin HDPE, it's all from recycled sources.

How eco-friendly is stone paper, really?

There’s no 100% perfect solution for any product. But the stone paper products we sell, although partly made from plastic, are on balance more environmentally friendly than their counterparts made from traditional materials like wood pulp.

For example, on a production basis alone, a stone paper notebook is miles ahead ecologically speaking when you consider no water, acids, bleaches or optical brighteners are used. This means nothing can spoil the water or poison the environment. The process also runs on 100% solar energy.

In terms of raw materials, it's all waste and recycled materials. No deforestation occurs, so forests and woodlands are protected as well as the biodiversity they support.

It does take energy to transport our stone paper products, but we climate compensate all the shipping and transportation-related emissions. So instead of cutting trees down, we’re planting them instead.

Is Stone Paper bio-degradable?

No. It is photodegradable so after a year to a year and a half of exposure to the sun, it dissolves into dust. But if there's no sun there’s no degradation, so if it's in a landfill it's locked there. This is true for tree-based paper as well.

Stone paper is recyclable though. The materials can be turned into more stone paper, recycled with other HDPE plastics and re-used. While a lot of tree-based paper is recycled, you cannot recycle paper indefinitely. Every time paper is recycled, the fibres shorten so in general regular paper can be only recycled 4-6 times.

Does Stone Paper burn?

Yes, but unlike pulp paper, it doesn’t smoulder. Errant sparks may leave a couple of marks but they shouldn't spread. Wash dirty pages with soap and water and any notes should be OK, just make sure you've been working in ballpoint or pencil.

What is recycled stone?

We use the “waste bits" and cast-offs from marble quarries that are ground into a fine powder to make the primary ingredient of stone paper. It’s pretty harmless stuff. You probably have some in your house already as a marble cutting board or even as baking soda.

Who came up with Stone Paper?

Stone paper was first produced in Taiwan in the late 1990s. Since then it has been refined and new uses are found for it every day. Here’s a short BBC video of how a Taiwanese company makes paper from stone.

Where can stone paper be purchased?

We sell a variety of stone paper products in our marketplace. We have stone paper notebooks, pocket diaries sketch pads, and even bullet journals made from stone paper.

Furthermore, our packaging is made from stone paper. We spent years on its development to ensure it’s both functional and sophisticated.

Can you make Stone Paper airplanes?

Absolutely. And in the unlikely event of a water landing, your stone paper airplane will come out completely unscathed.

In case we missed anything, reach out and contact us.

Anders Ankarlid

Co-founder & CEO

Co-Founder and CEO of agood company. A serial e-commerce entrepreneur, and a father of three. Have worked in e-commerce for more than a decade. Mindless consumption-activist.