The narrow country toads of Xinxiang Country are littered with straw that falls from trucks as they navigate the curves between farm fields. In the distance, new power plants rise from the corn, creating jagged skylines where once there wad only horizon in this remote northern part of central China's Henan province. Closer to the town of Xinxiang, the straw mixes with coal dust on the roads, creating a slippery approach to the gates of Henan Xinxiang Xinya Paper Mill Branch No. 2, the second-largest producer of containerboard in the county. Inside, three riding-mower-sized tractors are lined up at a truck scale, towing straw bales that measure 12 feet long and 3 feet high. Ahead of them, a flatbed truck carrying bales of mixed paper from the United States is being weighed. The mill is unloading 2,000 mt of scrap paper today, notes Song Jing Liang, general manager, as he walks toward a large outdoor storage area where a second flatbed is being unloaded by a forklift. "We've been buying scrap from L.A. and Vancouver for four years," Song says. Before that, this mill-like most of northern China's paper mills-made paper from straw. Today, Song's containerboard is made from a 60/40 mix of straw and recovered fiber. "It's a better product," he states, "and there's a strong demand for it."
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