How to Reuse Paper Waste at Home

Paper can be reused before it is recycled. Try these ideas:

  • Making things – from origami to magazine beads – paper is an endlessly useful material for creating new things. It can even be used to help skills in Maths, by making nets for 3D shapes. Don’t use lots of plastic or paint, then you can recycle it afterwards.
  • Newspaper wrapping paper – why buy new when it will end up in the bin anyway? Use newspaper to wrap presents and you can recycle it anyway.
  • Newspaper plant pots
  • Reuse paper for handmade greeting cards
  • Turn old paper into envelopes
  • Use old newspaper for animal bedding

Discover more ideas including composting, packaging material and origami here or why not have a look for even bigger projects on Pinterest.

Find out about how to reduce and recycle paper.

10 magazines opened and placed on top of one another.

How to Reuse Paper Waste at School

Make sure your school is reusing paper as much as it can by making sure there is a scrap paper tray in every classroom. This is even true at secondary schools!

Make sure teachers are modelling good reuse too – most of my notebooks are paper that printed on one side, halved and stapled together!