You speculated correctly. The brood cannot escape. I even found a scientific paper about it: it: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/328054285_A_Fatal_Nest_Construction_Man-mixed_Cement_Used_by_Mud-daubing_Wasps

I am pretty sure recycling does not require more energy than using fresh trees. You can even use the waste pulp to produce biogas.

Sure. It’s not a closed cycle. But if you need to cut down less trees, that is a win for me.

How does composting paper make more sense than recycling? From what I can tell we have pretty well established paper recycling mechanisms, at least here in Germany.

Edit: typo.

Does anyone have a source for this besides memes? I did not find anything 😢