“Lignocellulosic materials” refer to the organic matter produced by plants on the Earth in the form of grasses, shrubs, agricultural crops, and trees. Worldwide, this plant growth (also called biomass) serves two sustaining functions for our planet: it degrades carbon dioxide to oxygen and it has been the origin or storage media of all non-atmospheric carbon. Leaving aside the related critical issues of fossil fuel depletion and global warming/cooling, lignocellulosic materials growing on the surface also serve many commercial purposes: food production, fuel sources, structural materials for housing and industry, paper products, and chemicals.

Although lignocellulosic materials represent a sustainable resource base, the expanding use of paper and wood products has caused the developed countries to reevaluate the use and recovery of these natural biopolymerics. This issue of the MRS Bulletin explores some of the intricacies surrounding the recovery and reuse of these biomaterials. The applications for materials research are by no means exhaustively covered in these articles. Instead we illuminate the critical issues facing the paper recycling community and the technologies being applied to this resource to create marketable materials.