Five Ways to Recycle Newspapers

Newspapers are the kind of item that everyone has lying around the house. They get delivered, half of them get read, then they either build up or get thrown out. Well, that has been my experience anyway. As a university student we are given free newspapers everyday of the week and since i have a low budget, i've found some ways to reuse them! These may not be revolutionary ideas for you, i grew up doing these things as a kid so please enjoy; the Top Five Ways to Recycle Your Newspapers!

The most simple ways to  get a second use out of newspapers is by burning them! It may be pretty obvious but by making them into firelogs they heaps longer, and its so easy.Things you'll need include a tub of water, elastic bands and lots of newspapers

Step One: Soak your newspaper in the tub. The longer you soak the newspaper the tighter the sheets will meld together and thus have a longer burn time, but they can be hard to handle when they are too wet, i find that an average newspaper take about half an hour.

Step Two: Roll the newspaper up tightly to form a log shape. Put two elastic bands over the ends to prevent unrolling. make sure you roll them as tightly as possible to get out the excess water. This will dramatically reduce the drying time.

Step Three: Stand them on end against a wall to dry. After 24 hours the logs should be ready for burning :)

This one is awesome for uni students :) The thought of newspaper placemats isn't the coolest but if you get fun, interesting articles they can be really appealing. Comics and old articles are particularly good ideas for your placemats. Heres how to do it, pay attention, this two step process could get pretty complicated ;) You'll need cardboard, newspaper, gluestick and a laminator

Step One: Collect your newspaper articles! Cut them out and start arraqnging them onto your cardboard which will act as a base. It looks really good when articles overlap. i usually do them double sided, one side with comics the other side with interesting pictures and articles. glue the articles onto the cardboard the way you want them. Get the kids or your friends involved, good times are to be had making newspaper placemats! :)

Step Two: Laminate them! Simple as that. If you want your cardboard bigger then A4 (the typical laminate size) go down to your local print shop and they'll probably do you a cheap deals (especially if your making a hundred of them for all your friends!)

Paper Mache! The highlight of every childs life! You can make the coolest helmets, swords, sheilds, forts... The imagination is truely the only limiting factor! This is such an age old activity that im not going to write much on it, ill send you to some other websites, but first I'll give you the gist of what it is. Using a glue made from flour and water you soak newspaper in it and form shapes. A few hours later when the glue dries the shape becomes rigid and playable!

Here is a good website that has a good glue recipe (I couldn't resist trying it out, I LOVE paper mache :D) Hope you enjoy.

This is a really good way of using up lots of newspaper. Before mulching the garden next time, lay out thick layers of newspaper and then mulch on top. This has quite a few positive impacts;

First of all, the newspaper prevents weeds growing in the space between your plants. As they cannot get sunlight they simply have no opportunity to grow.

Second of all, the newspaper allows the top layer of mulch to last much longer and thus saving you money by not having to remulch as often. This happens because the newspaper acts as a barrier to decomposition for a longer time

Lastly, the newspaper decomposes and helps keep the soil moist so that when you want to plant something the soil is ready and waiting.

Another optyion is to shred the newspaper before putting it on the garden. Im not sure why people do that but they enjoy doing it so, you may enjoy it too :)

This is the coolest way to recycle newspaper bags. The bag is sturdy and makes a great gift bag. the method can be adapted to make gift bags for wine. I can't claim credit for this idea and I'll gladly forward you onto the youtube video. Just a warning to the wise, he does go really fast but feel free to pause and play... I know this is obvious but some people have been giving negative comments where I think this guys a genius!