Most paper is vegan, but not all of it. The standard white printer paper, notebook paper, or cardboard you encounter daily is made from wood pulp and synthetic additives with no animal ingredients. However, certain types of paper, particularly high-end art papers, some glossy coated papers, and certain recycled papers, can contain animal-derived materials like gelatin, casein, or beef tallow.
Why Some Paper Contains Animal Products
The potential problem isn’t the paper itself. Wood pulp, the core ingredient, is entirely plant-based. The issue lies in what gets added during and after manufacturing. Paper needs “sizing,” a treatment that controls how it absorbs liquids. Without sizing, paper acts like a sponge, and ink bleeds right through it. Sizing gives paper that smooth, firm surface you expect when you write or print on it.
Gelatin has been used as a paper sizing agent since the 13th century, when Italian papermakers in Fabriano first applied it. Made from animal hides, bones, hooves, and horns, gelatin creates a hard, opaque surface that resists ink penetration. For centuries, it was the gold standard. And while most modern paper has moved on to synthetic or starch-based sizing, gelatin is still used in specific products today.
Paper Types Most Likely to Use Animal Ingredients
Watercolor paper is the most common offender. Artist-quality watercolor paper is traditionally sized with gelatin, often through a process called tub sizing where dried sheets are dipped in a gelatin bath. This coating lets wet paint sit on the surface long enough for the artist to work with it instead of soaking straight into the fibers. Many premium watercolor brands still use this method.
Pastel papers are another category to watch. Canson, one of the largest art paper manufacturers, has confirmed that its Mi-Teintes and Ingres pastel papers use gelatin sizing. Their other lines, including Heritage watercolor paper, were specifically developed without gelatin as an alternative.
Glossy and coated papers sometimes use casein, a protein derived from cow’s milk. Sodium caseinate, produced from the acid precipitation of casein during milk and cheese production, has good film-forming properties that make it useful as a paper coating. While most commercial coated papers now use synthetic polymers like polyethylene, casein-based coatings still appear in specialty and packaging applications.
Some recycled paper introduces a less obvious concern. During the de-inking process, where old printed paper is cleaned for reuse, manufacturers sometimes use beef tallow or tallow-derived surfactants and fatty acid soaps as deinking agents. A patented deinking method specifically lists beef tallow as its preferred ingredient. Not all recycled paper is processed this way, but tracing the exact chemicals used in any given batch is difficult for consumers.
What About Glue in Notebooks and Books?
Animal-based glue was once standard in bookbinding, but the commercial industry has largely moved away from it. Modern mass-produced paperbacks use synthetic hot-melt adhesives for perfect binding, and commercial binderies report that animal glue is no longer part of their process for hardcovers either. You may still encounter animal-based adhesives in fine binding, artisanal bookmaking, or small press work, but for the notebooks, journals, and books you buy in a typical store, the adhesives are almost certainly synthetic.
If you’re curious about an older book, animal-based glues reactivate with water and give off a distinctive wet-dog smell when dampened. That’s a simple way to identify them.
How to Identify Vegan Paper
Standard office paper, printer paper, copy paper, and most everyday stationery are vegan by default. These products use synthetic or starch-based sizing and don’t require the specialized coatings that introduce animal ingredients. Starch sizing, in fact, predates gelatin sizing. Chinese papermakers used flour starch as early as the 8th century, and Arabic papers were historically sized with starch as well.
For art supplies, you’ll need to do more digging. Manufacturers don’t always list sizing agents on packaging. Your best option is to contact the company directly or check vegan art supply databases maintained by organizations that have already done the legwork. Some brands now market gelatin-free lines specifically because of demand from vegan artists.
The Vegan Society’s Trademark certification offers a formal standard. To qualify, a product’s manufacture and development must not involve any animal product, by-product, or derivative. The certification also requires companies to minimize cross-contamination with animal-origin ingredients through segregation measures, thorough cleaning of production lines, and good management practices. Paper products carrying this trademark have been independently verified.
A Quick Breakdown by Paper Type
- Printer and copy paper: Vegan. Uses synthetic or starch-based sizing.
- Standard notebooks and journals: Vegan. Modern commercial binding uses synthetic adhesives.
- Cardboard and kraft paper: Vegan. Made from unbleached wood pulp with minimal processing.
- Watercolor paper: Often not vegan. Many premium brands use gelatin sizing. Look for brands that specify synthetic or plant-based sizing.
- Pastel paper: Sometimes not vegan. Check with the manufacturer for specific product lines.
- Glossy or coated paper: Usually vegan, but casein-based coatings exist in some specialty products.
- Recycled paper: Potentially not vegan. Tallow-based deinking agents are used in some recycling processes, though not universally.
If you’re only concerned about the paper you use day to day for printing, writing, or wrapping, it’s almost certainly free of animal products. The areas where animal ingredients persist are niche: fine art papers, certain specialty coatings, and some recycled paper processing. For those categories, checking with the manufacturer or choosing certified products is the most reliable approach.