Go Green by Recycling Your Paper Goods

One of the easiest ways to go green is to recycle paper products. Everyone uses paper, most of us every single day. The easiest way to begin recycling paper is by first reducing the amount of paper you use in the first place. Less paper coming into your life means less paper that you have to recycle.

One of the easiest ways to reduce paper is to sign up for online bill payments so that you won't be getting paper bills. Use cloth rags instead of paper towels to clean up spills. Don't subscribe to magazines you never have time to read. Get direct deposit set up for your paycheck so that you won't have to deal with paper checks. Print files to PDFs instead of paper if you don't necessarily need a paper copy. There are lots of simple and quick ways to reduce quite a bit of paper use in your life.

Towns that have recycling facilities almost always have a set up for recycling paper. Check to see if your local recycling center handles magazines - not all do. Most glossy or waxy paper can't be recycled but magazines are often the exception to this rule. Don't worry about removing the staples if there are any as these will come out in the process of recycling the paper. By the same token, envelopes with plastic windows should recycle fine as the plastic will be sifted out when they make the new paper. Make sure the paper is dry and doesn't have food stains or grease on it. Wrappers from fast food won't recycle - the bags the food comes in will, if you make sure there is no grease or food on the bag. Junk mail, newspapers, envelopes, magazines, computer printer paper, and notebook paper can all be recycled. Different recycling centers sometimes have different regulations and rules about what can and cannot be recycled so be sure and contact them regarding anything of which you're unsure.

Another great and easy way to recycle paper is to reuse it. Use printed paper from your computer twice if possible. Once it's been used, cut it into squares and staple or glue one end of the squares together to create notepads for jotting down ideas. Turn magazine pages into envelopes by using a template. Add non-glossy paper to your compost pile by tearing it into small pieces. Let your kids make collages out of magazine pages and junk mail. Use wet newspapers to keep weeds from growing around your garden plants. If you really want to reduce and reuse your paper, make your own! There are tons of instructions available online for how to go about making paper and you can often create some really great looking handmade paper quite easily.

All in all, paper is one of the most easily recycled and easily reusable products around. You can buy recycled paper products and make an even bigger impact, especially if you reuse them.