Tips on How to Reuse Old Paper
Did you know that most of the things that end up in your trash bin including paper can be reused? Well, they can. In a variety of ways. Combined with recycling and reduced consumption, reuse of old paper can further reduce your impact on the environment as well as reduce your carbon footprint. At the same time, it can help you save a great deal of money.
Here a only a few of many ways you can reuse old paper:
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Seedling pots. Would you like to grow plants from seeds? If so, you can use old paper to make seedling pots instead of buying them. How? There are several ways you can use paper to grow seedlings. The most popular ones include using egg carton and toilet paper rolls that are folded at the bottom. If you need a larger amount of seedling pots immediately, you can also use newspapers. All you need to do is to shape two sheets of newspapers by using a pot as a model. In addition to saving you money, paper seedling pots will also save you plenty of time for planting because you can put the seedling into soil together with the pot.
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Moving/storage boxes. Instead of buying moving/storage boxes, you can use the ordinary cardboard boxes. With a little bit of imagination and creativity, you can also transform them into decorative boxes.
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Fire logs. Do you use a wood burning stove or fireplace to heat your home in the winter? If so, you can use old paper as fire logs. You can even buy a paper log maker to make compressed paper bricks. Be sure to leave a few newspapers because there is not better way to start a fire than old newspapers.
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Scrap paper. One-sided copies, envelops and just about any sheet of paper that is not printed or written upon completely can be reused as scrap paper.
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Window washing. Did you know that the easiest and most effective way to clean windows is by using newspapers? It effectively collects moisture and does not leave any fibres like most cloths do.
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Paper bags. Rather than buying shopping bags or using the plastic ones, you can make them yourself from old newspapers. And yes, they are just as strong as the commercially available ones if you are perhaps wondering. All you need to make a paper bag are scissors, a quality glue and a little bit of time.
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Garden mulch/compost. Paper is a biodegradable material and does not cause any harm to the environment during decomposition. You can easily use it as garden mulch but you can also add it to your compost.
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Drop cloth. Old paper is ideal to protect the surfaces during your art and crafting projects.
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Make art and crafts. There are many ways to turn old paper into an artwork. Simply let your imagination free and be creative.