Paper from stone, not trees.
Stone paper has existed for decades. It is just rarely used for the kind of notebook you would take outside.
What stone paper is
Limestone, ground down to calcium carbonate. The same mineral that makes up chalk and seashells. That powder is bound with a small share of HDPE and pressed into sheets under heat, with no water, no bleach and no acid anywhere in the process. What comes out is smooth, dense and noticeably heavier than you expect paper to be.
From rock to notebook
Cutting and crushing stone leaves limestone dust behind. That is the raw material.
The dust is ground into calcium carbonate, as fine as flour.
Powder plus a small share of HDPE, pressed into 120 micron sheets under heat.
Cut, printed, stitched. B6, eighty pages, ready to get rained on.
Why it writes better outdoors
Waterproof
The sheet absorbs nothing. Rain sits on the page as beads and wipes off.
Tear-resistant
No fibres running in one direction means no grain to tear along.
Smooth and dense
Pencil grips the matte surface well. Ink needs a moment longer to dry.
Honest about sustainability
The gain is in what does not happen. No trees felled, no process water coming back polluted, no bleach and no acid, and a lower carbon and energy footprint in production than wood paper.
Set against that is a drawback we are not going to talk our way around. The binder is plastic. Stone paper does not rot away in nature, it only breaks apart slowly. Do not leave it behind, and put a finished notebook in with the plastics, where it becomes raw material again.
Better than wood pulp. Not green.
Questions people ask
What is stone paper?
Paper made from finely ground limestone instead of wood pulp. The powder is bound with a small share of HDPE and pressed into sheets under heat and pressure. No tree is involved and the process uses almost no water. It is typically around 80 percent calcium carbonate and 20 percent HDPE.
Can I write on it with a normal pen?
Yes. Ballpoint, gel pen, fineliner and pencil all work, and you do not need a special pen. The surface is denser than wood paper, so gel and fountain ink take a few seconds longer to dry. Pencil actually grips better than it does on ordinary paper.
How waterproof is it, really?
The sheet takes on no water at all. Rain beads on the surface, you wipe it off and keep writing, and the pages dry flat instead of buckling. It is not a dive slate: do not leave it in a puddle for an hour, and remember that whether your writing survives also depends on your ink. Pencil and ballpoint hold up best.
Is stone paper actually more sustainable?
On the production side, yes, and measurably so. No trees, almost no water, no bleach and no acid. Life cycle studies put the CO2 footprint below wood paper, with a wide range depending on the study, the mill and the energy mix. Against that, there is plastic in it, so it does not biodegrade and it is not plastic-free. We call it better than wood pulp. We do not call it green.
Is stone paper recyclable?
Yes, with the plastics, not with paper. The binder is HDPE, which contaminates the paper stream. In the plastic stream it can become raw material again. Worth knowing: paper recycling is weaker than its reputation suggests. Published rates count what is collected against what is produced rather than what actually gets reused, and a wood fibre that survives 25 cycles in a lab usually manages one to three in practice before it is too short and too contaminated to use.
What size is it and how is it ruled?
B6, 125 by 176 millimetres, with 80 lined pages at 7 millimetre ruling and a softcover in the same stone paper. Inside the front cover there is space for your name and a finder's reward. Inside the back cover there is a 15 centimetre ruler.
What does shipping cost?
Netherlands 3.95 euro, rest of the EU 5.95 euro. Free above 39.95 euro.