Is it possible to make paper without trees? Australian businessmen Kevin Garcia and Jon Tse spent a year researching a possible     1     that could serve as a possible raw material for making paper. Then Garcia read about a Taiwanese company making commercial paper out of stone and a(n)     2     struck.

A year later, in July 2017, they launched Karst Stone Paper. The company produces paper without using wood or water. Their source is stone waste     3     from construction sites and other industrial waste dumps.

"If you look at the whole process of how paper is traditionally made, it     4     chopping trees, adding chemicals, using lots of water and then     5     , drying and flattening it into sheets of paper," said Garcia. "It contributes to high carbon emission and deforestation."

In 2019, Garcia estimates Karst's paper production has helped save 540 large limber trees (成材木) from being deforested, 83,100 liters (21,953 gallons) of water from being used and 25,500 kilograms (56,218 pounds) of carbon dioxide from being     6    .

"We collect disposed limestone (石灰石) from wherever we can find it, wash it, and grind it into fine powder," he said. The powder is mixed with a HDPE resin(高密度聚乙烯树脂), which     7     over time from sunlight, leaving only calcium carbonate (碳酸钙) behind.

The paper can be as thin as notebook paper or as thick as a cardboard paper and is waterproof,     8     and difficult to tear. The notebooks cost $10 to $25. Karst's products are mainly sold through the company's website, but are also stocked in 100 stores,     9     throughout Australia, the United States and the United Kingdom. "Over 70% of the customers are US-based," he said.

They hope to have the notebooks in 1,000 stores by the end of the year. Garcia said they are now thinking about     10     investors for the first time in order to scale up their operations. They declined to reveal how much the company makes or their annual revenue.

Japanese firms encourage daytime naps

Imagine working for an employer who, aware that you’re probably not sleeping enough at night, allows you to down tools and nap as part of your regular work     1     -- and not just forty winks at your desk, but a restorative snooze in a quiet room.

These are some of the measures being used by a growing number of companies in Japan to counter an epidemic of sleeplessness that costs its economy a(n)     2     $ 138 bn a year.

Tech startups have been quickest to     3    the “sleep debt” among irritable and unproductive employees. Last year, Nextbeat, an TT service provider, went as far as setting up two “strategic sleeping rooms” -- one for men, the other for women -- at its headquarters in Tokyo. The aroma-infused rooms     4     devices that block out background noise, allowing workers to stretch out on sofas for a(n)     5     nap. Mobile phones, tablets and laptops are banned.

“Napping can do as much to improve someone’s     6    as a balanced diet and exercise,” Emiko Sumikawa, a member of the Nextbeat board, told Kyodo news agency.

Nextbeat also asks employees to leave work by 9 pm and to avoid doing excessive overtime, which has been     7     for a rising rate of death from overwork.

Japanese workers have more reason than most to submit to （服从）the     8     for a daytime snooze, whether at work or during long commutes.

A survey conducted using fitness trackers in 28 countries found that Japanese men and women sleep, on average, just 6 hours and 35 minutes a night -- 45 minutes less than the international average -- making them the most sleep-deprived of all. Estonians, Canadians, Belgians, Austrians, as well as the Dutch and French, all get a comparatively decent night’s sleep, according to the survey.

The government has also come to appreciate the     9     of a well-rested workforce, with the health ministry recommending that all working-age people take a nap of up to 30 minutes in the early afternoon -- advice     10     embraced by some of the country’s politicians.