Paper is a thin sheet material produced by mechanically or chemically processing cellulose fibres derived from wood, rags, grasses or other vegetable sources in water, draining the water through fine mesh leaving the fibre evenly distributed on the surface, followed by pressing and drying.

Although paper was originally made in single sheets by hand, almost all is now made on large machines—some making reels 10 meters wide, running at 2,000 meters per minute and up to 600,000 tons a year.

It is a versatile material with many uses, including printing, packaging, decorating, writing, cleaning, filter paper, wallpaper, book end paper, conservation paper, laminated worktops, toilet tissue, currency and security paper and a number of industrial and construction processes.