Top 10 Tips for Recycling Paper
In 2011, about 8 million tonnes of paper and cardboard were recovered and recycled. At the same time, the quantity of recovered and recycled paper has been rising steadily over the last decade. Although the statistics about paper recovery and recycling in the UK are impressive, the government and the paper industry agree that there is still plenty of room for improvement as world consumption of paper has grown 400% in the last 40 years and shows no sign of slowing down.
Here are our Top 10 Tips for recycling your paper at home and in the office.
Use paper from recycling bins for notes etc. Most things are only printed one side, leaving a full side of high-quality white paper.
Use electronic storage (‘The Cloud’) or a hard drive rather than paper storage for material. Don’t print them unless you really must.
Be frugal about magazine and newspaper subscriptions, most of these have online versions.
At home use cloth napkins and rags instead of paper towels.
Use a white board for shopping lists/notes
Try to proofread your work carefully before printing. Use the ‘Print Preview’ mode to make sure what you are printing is exactly what you want.
Avoid using paper plates and cups. Switch to durable, washable ones if you need something for a social occasion.
Unless you need a particular book as references on your bookshelf (like a recipe book), consider buying only digital books and reading them on an e-reader.
Use reusable coffee filters instead of paper ones. White-paper coffee filters bleached with chlorine are not only bad for the environment, but some of the chlorine and dioxins can end up in your coffee.
Change your bills to ‘paperless’ and pay them online or by phone.
If your business would like to find out more about paper and card waste collections to maximise your recycling rates contact us.