What can I make from my old paper?

Do you know that you can get paid to recycle your old paper?

If you do a search for “recycle paper near me”, you should be able to find a company that will collect your paper.

At my bike shop, I recycle:

-cardboard boxes and paper.
-metal parts from bicycles.

On my request, the guy who collects my recyclables will give my staff some pocket money.

I also send packaging material taken off bicycles delivered, like bubble wraps and plastic sheets that are clean and still in good condition, to a courier service company, right next door. 

However, there many ways you can make use of them, if you do not want to recycle them or have to pay a fee for collection. If they are blank paper, you can make notebooks out of them. I shared how it can be done in a question I answered on Quora earlier at the following link. From there you can learn to bind the papers together into a notebook:

What is one specific physical feature you always look for when choosing a new notebook for your art ideas?

You can use the notebooks you make to start a journal because journaling is good for your emotional wellbeing. If you are feeling down and do not know how to start journaling, read this book by Lee Crutchley, "How to Be Happy (Or at Least Less Sad): A Creative Workbook". I found a review about it shared on VaneesBabySteps YouTube channel. At the end of the video, she flipped through the book which will give you an idea how you can go about journaling your thoughts so that you can be less sad.

If you are not someone who likes to write, you can also journal in bullet points. I saved some ideas on how you can do it on my Pinterest board, “Bujo (bullet point journal)”.

Following are other ways you can make use of your notebook. You can use it:

-to record recipes

-to draw or doodle in it.

-as a travel/souvenir collection book.

-as an accounting book.

-as a scrapbook to stick your photos or cut out of images that inspire you.

-to jot down ideas and develop your writing skill as an author.

Are you good at crafting? If there are prints on them, you can use them for paper-mâché projects to make practical items like bowls and planters to decorative objects, such as, sculptures, masks, and ornaments.. You can learn the process from the following question I answered earlier.

What are some free doll patterns?

If you can make use of your old paper, you are actually creating abundance out of the abandoned. You can use them to:

-create paper beads to make decorative items or jewellery.

-create decorative items with decoupage or collage.-pick up origami.

-pick up quilling (rolling strips).

-pick up papercutting.

-make greeting cards.

-make gift boxes or wrap gifts.

-make baskets or storage boxes.

-make paper flowers.

-make flatpack paper toy

If you like any of the above suggestions, you can check out the free tutorials I saved on my Pinterest board, "Playing with waste paper".

Are aluminum drink cans better than plastic water bottles?

Are you wondering if you should buy drinks that are packed in aluminum cans or in PET bottles?

It depends on which country you are from and how the recycling rate is like for the packaging involved.  Recycling agents in Malaysia would rather take aluminium cans over plastic as one lorry load of aluminium cans earns more than one lorry load of PET bottles.

I read this article posted on July 20, 2019 by TAPP Water:

Glass vs plastic vs aluminium – what is the most sustainable choice?

This is what it reported:

% recovered for recycling in USA
Glass 80%
ALUMINIUM 45%
PLASTIC (PET) 9.5%

Though the recycling rate in reported is 80% for glass bottle, in Malaysia I am not able to find recycling agents for them.

If you read the report, "Disposable Drinking Bottles- Plastic vs. Glass vs. Aluminum" from Macquarie University in Australia website, the recycling rate is different:

Average Amount Currently Recycled reported in Australia
GLASS 50%
ALUMINIUM 50%
PLASTIC (PET) 60%

Maybe it is easier to make a decision based on your views from this report extracted from the report posted at TAPP Water:

Time to decompose
Glass bottle 1 million years*
Single use plastic 400 years
Carton Never**
Aluminium can 100-400 years

Decomposition residue
Glass bottle - Glass
Single use plastic - Microplastics
Carton - Some microplastics
Aluminium can - Metal scrap

How do you stop microplastics from polluting the environment?  Based on this, I would rather choose aluminium over PET bottles.

If you still cannot make up your own mind on it, read what "The Aluminum Association" has to say about it.

Extracted:
"Nearly 75 percent of all aluminum ever produced is still in use today.

Infinitely recyclable and highly durable, nearly 75 percent of all aluminum ever produced is still in use today. Aluminum is 100 percent recyclable and retains its properties indefinitely. Aluminum is one of the only materials in the consumer disposal stream that more than pays for the cost of its own collection."

Note: Though carton is reported not to decompose and there are microplastics residue when they decomposed, if you google "Tetrapak gets recycled into roof sheets" you can read about their efforts with with local charity in Thailand to turn recycled cartons into roofing sheets to provide emergency shelter for people in need.

See how Tetrapak  is recycled in India to benefit the public.


Tetrapak is working on raising awareness that their cartons can be recycled.  I think that children in school should be taught during their art and craft class lessons on how they can extract paper out of cartons as shown in this video.

What happens to the TetraPak cartons you recycled?

Are you wondering what happen to the TetraPak cartons that you had diligently put out for recycling?

In Thailand, under the Green Roof project, with the support of local charity, Tetra Pak turn recycled cartons into roofing sheets to provide emergency shelter for people in need.

See how TetraPak cartons are collected in India and made into benches to be placed at public parks and school.


You can learn to do it on a small scale by watching this video.

Old clothing? Give it a second life.

If old clothing can have a say in how they should be used, this will be its autobiography.



Other than donating your old clothing, what else can you do on a personal level with clothes that you or your family members no longer wear?  Maybe reading this book, "The Upcycled T-Shirt: 28 Easy-to-Make Projects That Save the Planet Clothing, Accessories, Home Decor & Gifts" will give you some ideas.

When price of oil drops...

When price of oil drops, not everyone will be rejoicing.

Let's take a look at the plastics recycling industry.  Plastics are made from oil.  When oil price slumps, it is cheaper for manufacturers to buy freshly made plastic.  We will see less used plastic material being collected for recycling. 

So, all the more reasons for us to consider using less plastic in our product or packaging. If you need some help, read this book, "Plastic-Free: How I Kicked the Plastic Habit and How You Can Too", by Beth Terry. 

Can we start a Zero Waste Community?

Can we start a Zero Waste Community in Malaysia?  If you are wondering what that is, this is how it is being done in USA.

Trash to play with

The kids of Cateura live in homes built on slum. So, how could they possibly consider starting an orchestra if they can't afford the musical instrument required? If you think that they are hopeless dreamers, then you ought to check out what they have achieved at Landfill Harmonic. They have created music with trash. What can you create with yours?

Slim and well adorned? Clear them out!

Slim and well adorned.

That's what they are always eyeing.  To them the next one is always better with a lot more to play with! When will they stop groping for the next one that comes along?

Yeap!  Mobile phones! The latest model wins hands down again.

So, what did you do with the older models?

How about selling and donating part of the payment to a charitable organization?  Mark Bowles makes it possible for Americans to do just that with his ecoATM, as long as they are willing to have their license and thumb print scanned.  A great way to verify ownership and prevent sales of stolen mobile phones.

So, what do they do with the gadgets collected by ecoATM?  75 percent of the devices are sold to refurbishers while the rest go to e-waste recyclers.  What a great way to reduce e-waste and re-use what are still applicable.

OK, let's check out what this machine, which won the Popular Science's , “The Best of What’s New Award" in 2010, is all about.

Plastic waste? An issue to sit on.

Plastic bottle waste is going to be an issue of the past if we can keep coming up with ideas to utilize them.  Here is one from Studio Nuy van Noort to sit on and start thinking.

Talk green? Try Gangnam lah.