What are Trees Used For?
The answer you get here probably depends on who you ask. A gardener is likely to point to the benefits of trees growing in the backyard, providing shade on warm days and habitats for birds. A carpenter might think of lumber, shingles, or other building materials. In fact, everything made of wood is made from trees. That certainly includes houses, fences, decks, cabinets, and doors that a carpenter may have in mind. If you give it more thought though, you can come up with many more items. A few tree products we use regularly include wine corks, toothpicks, canes, matches, pencils, roller coasters, clothespins, ladders, and musical instruments.
Paper Products Made from Trees
Paper is likely the second tree product that comes to mind when you think of items made from trees. Paper products made from trees are made from wood pulp, and there are many of these. Paper to write or print on is one of the main tree products used every single day. Wood pulp also makes egg cartons, tissues, sanitary pads, newspapers, and coffee filters. Some leather tanning agents are also made from wood pulp.
Other Things Made from a Tree
Cellulose fibers from trees make a large array of other products. These include rayon clothing, cellophane paper, cigarette filters, hard hats, and sandwich bags. More tree byproducts include chemicals extracted from trees. These chemicals are used to make dye, pitch, menthol, and scented oils. Tree chemicals are also used in deodorants, insecticides, shoe polish, plastics, nylon, and crayons. A tree byproduct of papermaking, sodium lauryl sulfate, serves as a foaming agent in shampoos. Many drugs come from trees as well. These include Taxol for cancer, Aldomet/Aldoril for hypertension, L-Dopa for Parkinson’s disease, and quinine for malaria. Of course, there are also food products too. You have fruits, nuts, coffee, tea, olive oil, and maple syrup just to list a few.
