Paper

Waste paper varies greatly in digestibility according to the raw material from which it is made. Newsprint (daily newspapers) contains more mechanical pulp of low digestibility than office discard paper. Commonly, newsprint is a blend of 70% mechanical pulp and 30% chemical pulp. Mechanical pulp undergoes no chemical change and therefore has approximately the same digestibility as the original wood, whereas chemical pulp is highly delignified and thus almost completely digestible. Hammer-milled newsprint has been used as roughage for cattle. It seems that high levels of newsprint (12%) or office discard paper (15%) in rations depress food intake. Ground newsprint can absorb three times its weight of blackstrap molasses. Upon drying, it becomes a stable and friable product with fair palatability for cattle. No health disorders have been observed in cattle that have been fed waste paper. The dry matter digestibility of newsprint is about 30% and of brown wrapping paper and cardboard 40-60%, whereas high-quality chemical pulp paper is up to 98% digestible.