Cardboard and paper
Any one of these recycling projects is so easy thing to do: you can involve the whole family in and most will cost you NOTHING but a little time!!
1. Handmade journals or note pads. I’ve been making these for a long time. It all started at university when I couldn’t afford to buy note pads. I made my own using whatever materials I had on hand. These cost nothing to make.
Cut your paper in half (length or width-wise, depending your needs), or leave it as is, and then use whatever cardboard you can find to make the covers; for example, food produce boxes, cereal boxes, etc. Cut the cardboard into covers for the notepads - these should be the same size as the paper. You can leave the covers as they are, or glue pages culled from magazines to cover the cardboard covers. Be creative!
To hold the note pad together use old pens, twigs, chop sticks and an elastic band, ribbons, and even office clips--whatever you have on had and is suitable. Using these kinds of fasteners make the note pads refillable so you can refill them with more recycled paper whenever you need to.
2. Seed pots from newspapers. Here’s an easy and inexpensive way to make your own seed pots out of newspapers. This is an excellent way to recycle newspapers. Make a mould by cutting the top and bottom off a small plastic bottle (I use my vitamin containers). Wrap the newspaper around the bottle and tuck the excess paper into the base. Plants can be transplanted directly into the garden and the newspaper will biodegrade in the soil over time.
3. Cereal boxes. Turn the empty cereal boxes into handy organizer holders. Large boxes work well for books, small ones for supplies. Cut off the top of the box; leave as is or wrap it in decorative paper.
Cereal boxes and package inserts can also be transformed into personalized bookmarks. Cut out the required size and, using a hole puncher, punch a hole in the top of the bookmark. String your favourite, coloured wool or thread through the hole and tie it to create a tassel.
4. Cereal box liners. Why toss out those waxed cereal box liners (they’re actually plastic!) from your cereal boxes when with almost no effort you can reuse them to wrap sandwiches, finger food, or cookies for school or office lunch boxes instead of using costly plastic wrap. Just slide your edibles inside and fold. And why not recycle a plastic food produce tub as the lunch box. You can use both the waxed liners and plastic tubs over and over again.
5. My most fun thing to do with empty cereal or any food produce cardboard box is to turn it into a clock. All you need is the insides of an old clock (or buy a clock kit new at any hobby or craft store) and then follow the instructions to make you very own timekeeper. The one above keeps me going, and going....
Ciao!
