The sustainability of recycling paper is still a game of uncertainty.
While almost all studies have proved recycling to be a much cheaper and environmentally friendly alternative, we, being ignorants, still keep arguing about it. However, without going into any of the debates and discussions, we still can recycle paper at home to help make our finances and environment a little less hostile for us and the earth dwellers you haven’t been seeing in your garden for a long time now. Do you know what’s better than recycling? Not using paper. Just like I don’t, to do my homework 123.
Let’s look at 4 such ways you can recycle the papers that have already been used for their intended purpose and just lying around for demise.
1. Composting
I’ll be completely honest here. If you are using cheap paper, you shouldn’t use it as compost. Cheap paper often contains plastic as an ingredient, which can upset the soil system severely. These products aren’t completely biodegradable and by using shreds of those in your garden, you risk microplastic contamination.
But, composting is an exceptional alternative usage of papers. You just gotta wet them up and throw them in the compost bin you might already have. What soiled paper in compost does is hold the moisture content of the soil for a very long time and keep the area humid around the plant, promoting healthy growth.
2. Packing Material
Shredded paper is the absolute packing material for your electronics and fragile possessions. Not only shredded, but you can also reuse the old packing boxes to ship gifts to your loved ones. The packing materials used nowadays are quite versatile and substantial, which can be utilised many a time before it gives up. Got old magazines? Strip away the cover and use the pages to wrap up the camera before shifting to the new house.
Alternatively, if you love retro themes, you can also wrap gifts with old newspapers.
3. Shelf Liners and Cleaning
Unsoiled, old sheets of paper can be used as shelf liners to keep wooden shelves clean and dry. Newspapers are cheap, so is their paper quality, but that only make them better as blotting paper. Dribbled colour, clean up operations, printer leakage, wet bed, everything has one thing in common, all of these can be solved with the help of ample amount of old newspaper. Anything with glass is a hassle to clean up even with microfibre clothes and special cleaners; but with newspaper, the job gets as easy as not doing.
4. Making Your Own Paper
The ingredients you require to manufacture your own piece or pieces of paper should widely be available in every household kitchen. You just need to have a mould and mesh to determine the size and finish of the product, which can be bought online.
Shred scrap papers in pieces and put them into an old blender which isn’t used to blend food with lots of water – ideally twice as much as the volume of paper. Blend thoroughly until a thick paste is acquired.
Put the paste into the mould through the mesh. Use a spatula to even the surface. Press a sponge onto the mould to drain away all the excess water and repeat the process until no water is left.
Dry out the whole setup in the sun for at least a day to end up with a beautiful piece of paper. Homemade papers are quite effective to use as drawing canvas and for writing. Treat them as exotic pieces for new year cards and letters.
The Bottom Line:
If you are not interested to recycle your paper in any way. Be mindful to dump them into the proper paper disposal bins around you. Food wrappings and hybrid paper can cause seriously contaminate water sources.
