Paper Banana fibre is used in the production of banana paper. Banana paper is used in two different senses to to a paper made from the bark of the banana tree, mainly used for artistic purposes, or paper made from banana’s fibre, from an industrialised process, from the stem and the non utilisable fruits. This paper can be either hand-made or made by machine. The volume of raw for making banana paper around the world on plantations is vast and largely unutilised. The market for banana paper is seen as a growth industry. Since 1988, in Costa Rica, companies like EcoPaper.com and Costa Rica Natural Paper have been producing 100% industrialised fine environmental and ecological papers from natural banana fibres, for the writing and stationery market.
In only 15 countries, the banana agro-industry processes each year 42 million tons of bananas with 2 million hectares planted. This industry numerous waste products such as the plastic that wraps the bananas, plastic cords to tie the wrapping, damaged bananas and the pinzote (stems). An alarming quantity of over 10 million metric tons of pinzote is thrown in landfills or even worse in local rivers. The pinzote is of 92% of water, 3% of resins and 2% glucose; the rest is vegetal fibre. This composition makes it decompose without the solid component being destroyed. This causes a severe impact on the ecosystems – much to the detriment of rivers and underground waters.