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I was going to write a general piece on some of the notebooks I've bought, so I decided to have a look for some images on Google when I stumbled upon an interesting related website. I go through paper like you wouldn't believe, the house is filled with old versions of chapters which I can't bring myself to throw away - partly out of sentimentality and partly out of copyright paranoia (ha) - and I don't want to imagine how much shredding I'd have to do. I buy standard A4 paper, Asda's Smart Price version for general use and a heavier weighted one for sending out - but I tend to be a bit Scrooge-like over prices, although I will pay more for green products. I also buy quite a few notebooks especially when starting a new project. I prefer to write in school exercise books or A5 notebooks - I find ring-bound ones easier to use, especially when I'm forever flicking back and to checking my plotting etc is consistent. Well here's some notebooks with a difference - they are made from bananas. They are made by 'The Banana Paper Company' which based in Costa Rica and they make paper from - as you've probably guessed - banana fibres along with coffee and tobacco fibres. Their notebooks look fabulous especially the bright yellow funky monkey one and they also make A4 paper and envelopes and they are all good value - although there is an extra charge for shipping. I'm tempted I can tell you. The company use agro-industrial fibres from the waste of processing common agricultural products which is then mixed with a base fibre made of recycled paper including office paper, tetra pack containers, magazines and newspapers. The Banana Paper Company explains: "Packing of bananas: as a result of pulling apart the bunches of bananas from the main stem, we have the pinzote left over and it contains 5% of usable fibre to manufacture paper. "Processing coffee: peels, leaves and small beans are separated from the coffee that will be processed, all this are used to manufacture our coffee paper. "By-products of tobacco: the leaves are separated from their veins during the processes involved in the tobacco industry, and they are used to make our tobacco paper." Their Research and Development Department is also studying new fibres from pineapple, orange and palm hearts. The full paper-making process is detailed on the company's website - www.ecopapers.com - is really interesting and of course you can order their products there too.