Every Seed Counts

The University of Akron IdeaExchange@UAkron Williams Honors College, Honors Research The Dr. Gary B. and Pamela S. Williams Honors Projects College Spring 2021 Every Seed Counts Lindsey Wasnak [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://ideaexchange.uakron.edu/honors_research_projects Part of the Book and Paper Commons Please take a moment to share how this work helps you through this survey. Your feedback will be important as we plan further development of our repository. Recommended Citation Wasnak, Lindsey, "Every Seed Counts" (2021). Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects. 1238. https://ideaexchange.uakron.edu/honors_research_projects/1238 This Dissertation/Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by The Dr. Gary B. and Pamela S. Williams Honors College at IdeaExchange@UAkron, the institutional repository of The University of Akron in Akron, Ohio, USA. It has been accepted for inclusion in Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects by an authorized administrator of IdeaExchange@UAkron. For more information, please contact [email protected], [email protected]. EVERY SEED COUNTS: A Study of Homemade Seed Paper Lindsey Wasnak Williams Honors College Research Project November 30th, 2020 1 ABSTRACT Above all else, humans should understand the impact of the decisions they make, before they make them. In specific, the decisions that could harm the environment, whether that is on a large or small scale. Humans create an enormous amount of trash, and for this honors project a campaign was created that emphasizes the importance of being environmentally conscious with paper. Being environmentally conscious can be expressed in a multitude of ways, so the main focus of this project was to create plantable seed paper that people can use and then grow things with after they are finished. This project communicates that even a small decision, like choosing a more environmentally friendly paper, can make the world grow and flourish. The process of creating seed paper, planting, and then growing the plants has been documented in the form of photography and video. These forms of documentation are presented through a 3D gallery, and a website. 2 The environmental impact of everyday products is a subject not enough humans focus on. From plastics, to fossil fuels, to glass, and paper we use these products without much hesitation or regard for the ways it affects the earth. Paper is one of the many products that has potential to be reused and recycled before it is completely discarded. In light of that, paper is the focus for this specific honors project. To create a world where paper has less of a negative impact on the environment and more of a positive impact on the people, this proposal is about incorporating seeds into recycled paper. If seeds can be incorporated into recycled paper this could reduce carbon emissions and deforestation, and even build new bonds and connections between humans and the earth. This project was inspired by the influx of environmentally conscious products being marketed within the past few years. The push to be environmentally friendly is a consistent conversation, but it seems as though there haven’t been many monumental changes in people’s day-to-day lives. In order to combat this stagnant mindset, the proposal for the use and creation of seed paper should allow for a rejuvenation of motivation to not only talk about being environmentally friendly, but to act on it as well. The approach to this project was relatively simple. The main objective was to figure out the best way to make seed paper, and for that seed paper to be successful when planted in the soil. It was decided to try a multitude of ways to create the paper, and then plant five of these in small pots and document the growth process. The different creation methods helped to nail down the easiest, quickest approach with as much success as possible. Making homemade seed paper requires very little materials, and most are items people already have in their home. To make seed paper, each person needs a large pile of recyclable papers, a blender, some water, seed 3 1 packets, a strainer, and a screen or a microfiber towel. The recycled papers can come from any source, but be weary that most papers do have chemicals inside of them, and the papers that do have chemicals can only be reused so many times before the paper fibers become too weak to hold anything together. “Caustic soda is added to increase the pH in the pulping process of fibers. The higher pH of the paper fiber solution causes the fibers to smoothen and swell, which 2 is important for the grinding process of the fibers.” The best papers to use are old newspapers, paper bags, and phone book pages. The thicker the paper chosen, the more weight and texture it will have in the end. Through the paper experimentation it was noticed that if tissue paper, receipt paper, and shredded printer paper are used the paper will tend to be more blended and smooth in the end. Take these recycled papers, and cut them up into small 1-2 inch squares. After the paper is cut up, people can choose to do a few different things. They could soak the paper in the water for 10-15 minutes, 30 minutes, 2 hours, 12 hours, or 24 hours. The amount of time the paper is soaked will determine the flexibility of the fibers inside and the way that the paper gets blended into a pulp. The longer the paper soaks, the softer it becomes and the easier it is to blend it into a pulp. When the paper is done soaking, you can use either an immersion blender or a regular blender to mix the paper into one cohesive pulp. Fill your blender up about three-fourths of the way up with the paper, and then proceed to put water in until the paper is completely covered. When the paper is submerged, turn on the blender and blend until the pulp is smooth (or until the desired texture is achieved). Next, take the paper pulp and water mixture and strain the excess water out into the sink. Try to push all the water you can out of the paper because the 1 Doyle, H. (2020, November 13). Make seed paper. Retrieved November 28, 2020, from https://climatekids.nasa.gov/seed-paper/ 2 “About 3000 Chemicals Used in Papermaking!” worldofchemicals.com. World Of Chemicals, September 24, 2014. https://www.worldofchemicals.com/458/chemistry-articles/about-3000-chemicals-used-in-papermaking.ht ml. 4 wetter the paper is, the longer it takes to dry. When the paper is strained, take the mixture and add seeds to it. The seeds can be anything from microgreens, to vegetables, and even flowers. Lastly, use a screen or a microfiber towel to lay the paper mix onto and flatten it out. The flattening process can be approached in many ways, some of them being hand flattening, using a rolling pin, and pressing with sheet pans. The paper should be completely flattened and then sat out in the sun (or inside) to completely dry out before use. This process of paper creation is incredibly flexible and can be modified to fit anyone’s situation or item restrictions. When the paper is completely dry you can use it to write/draw on, and then reuse the paper once again to grow plants with. These plants can be edible or decorative, and both seed types were tested in the plant growth process. In order to complete the project in a timely manner, the seeds chosen for the growth development observation were two different Zinnia, Cat Grass, Basil, and Spinach because these are all faster growing plants. The process of the making of each of these papers was slightly different, and it is believed that this slight difference did make a difference in the growth development. The paper textures, colors, and growth rates were all different, but were each successful. All of the plants were given the same soil and fertilizer, all given half a cup of water every other day, as well as being housed in the same sized pots. To create a more diverse body of work, different paper materials were used, and they were soaked in water for different periods of time. Some of the papers that were used in the making of the plants were not used in the exhibition of the 3D gallery, only the most attractive papers were featured there. The Basil pulp 3 was made of only newspaper and was soaked for 15 minutes . The Zinnia were soaked for 30, 4 and 2 hours and those were made of only shredded printer paper and post-it notes. Spinach was 3 Figure 3.) “Basil 1”, Lindsey Wasnak 4 Figure 4.) “Zinnia 1”, Lindsey Wasnak 5 soaked for 12 hours and was a combination of phone book paper, printer paper, and receipts.5 Lastly, Cat Grass was soaked for 24 hours and was made of printer paper, and newspaper. 6 The most successful plant growth process was the Cat Grass and the Zinnia. The seed paper plant development was documented over a month and a half long time period from the very beginning of August to the middle of September. The first sprouts came up about three days 7 after they were planted, which was much faster than expected. Almost immediately the Cat Grass and two different Zinnia sprouted and swiftly began to grow. The Basil had a few sprouts, and the Spinach had none at this time. Two days later, there were small plant sprouts in all five 8 of the pots.

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