In Making Cardboards and Using Coconuts

In making Cardboards, Fast-growing trees provide raw materials used to make cardboard. The largest packaging companies own thousands of acres of land where trees are matured, harvested, and replaced with seedlings. After the trees are harvested, they remove their limbs; only the trunks will be brought by truck to a pulp mill. The largest packaging companies also own the mills where trees are converted to kraft paper. At the mill, the harvested tree trunks are subjected to the kraft process.

After the kraft process, the fibers are sent directly to the paper machine where they are formed, pressed, dried, and rolled into the wide, heavy rolls of kraft paper sent to corrugating plants to be made into cardboard. Since, Fibers are used to make kraft papers that will eventually be made into cardboards; there are fiber crops that we can use. An example of which is Coir or commonly known as coconut husks. They are rich in fiber, thus, can be used as an alternative for fast growing trees in cardboard making.

To process coir, coconuts are split so that the stiff fibers are accessible. The outer husk is soaked to separate the fibers, which are sorted out into long fibers suitable for use as brush bristles, and shorter fibers which are used to make things like the padding inside inner coil mattresses. After soaking, the fibers are cleaned and sorted into hanks which may later be spun into twine, matted into padding, or used as individual bristles. After the process, you can now use it to make paper or cardboards.

Instead of cutting down trees that will cause the destruction of many houses and even the death of many, we can use coconut husks/shells as an alternative because the shells are just thrown after we eat the cellular endosperm and drink its juice or called the liquid endosperm. Also, for us, coconut shells have no use. So, instead of throwing it, we can recycle and use it for an important purpose. By doing so, it will help save mother earth and we can lessen the calamities that happen in our country.

Our country is now suffering from many calamities like floods and earthquakes because of many reasons. We have fewer trees that helps prevent floods from happening because of our extreme usage of paper and other materials. Trees are needed to be cut down in order for us, especially students to have papers in hand. We, at times, abuse the importance of paper. Many of us tend to waste them or use them for useless purposes like boredom doodles.

Not realizing that those actions caused the destruction of many houses or even the death of many. Therefore, I believe that this topic is really important so that we can prevent those calamities from happening again. I am sure we don’t want to experience typhoon “Ondoy” all over again. We also don’t want to hear bad news like many of our fellow citizens or yet, our less fortunate brothers and sisters get hurt, lose their houses and properties or even die.

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