Paper with ink can be recycled
When we decorate the walls with wallpaper, there are usually scraps of paper and cuttings. Well, we just have to tear them with our hands into irregular pieces, combine them as we like and glue them on any smooth surface using wallpaper glue. In this way, a mirror, a photo frame or a table lamp become objects with their own personality. We can also use this technique to protect shelves, tabletops or the inside of wooden drawers.
Another thing we can do is to create patterns that refer to the use we want to give to the object in question: form letters with the names of your children and they will no longer fight for a place at the game table; create flowers and decorate with them the cabinet where you keep the gardening supplies; or turn a tabletop into a chess board, or your favorite board game.
Wallpaper is a decorative resource with enough power to transform a space on its own. Let’s suppose that you have a screen that is totally outdated and for which you no longer find any use. You just have to choose a nice paper that fits the style of your bedroom and you have a fantastic headboard for your bed. You see, a whole new room with a minimal investment.
Waxed paper can be recycled
Bond paper is the material obtained from the wood of trees and which uses cellulose fibers as raw material: it is a process that has a great impact on the environment. In addition to the felling of trees and the consequent soil erosion, if the bleaching process of bond paper is carried out by means of chlorine, it is necessary to use an enormous amount of water and energy. But there is the possibility of bleaching paper without using chlorine, i.e. using a compound based on oxygen, which is much less polluting.
Recycled paper is paper that is not obtained from the wood of bushes, but through a process of recovery of ground waste paper. However, a distinction must be made between pre-consumer waste and post-consumer waste.
Post-consumer waste is already used paper material that is recovered through selective collection and has to undergo a deinking process. In this way what has already been used can have a second life.
Cardboard can be recycled
The answer is yes, we can recycle most paper, and we say most because what is recycled is cellulose, the main material that forms it, but there are some types of paper in which the main material is not cellulose, but are composed of other materials that make them non-recyclable.
We must be careful with toilet paper or sanitary paper, paper stained with grease, waxed paper, plasticized or kerosene, carbonless paper or thermal fax paper. These are the types that you will not be able to recycle.
Then it is centrifuged and the surplus inks are eliminated, and later it is washed again in case there are any foreign materials left in the paper. Finally it is bleached. After this, the recovered paper is used to make paper, cardboard boxes, newspapers, magazines, etc., again.
Recycled photo paper
When we wallpaper a room, there are always a few pieces left over. What can we do to recycle wallpaper? Most of the time we throw them away or keep them for a while until we decide to get rid of them for good. Now more than ever it is important not to waste, to be eco-friendly and to apply sustainable decoration in our homes. Therefore, we are going to give you a series of ideas to take advantage of wallpaper.
Drawers with wallpaper. Don’t throw away that old chest of drawers. Take advantage of the drawers to turn them into shelves. Line the bottom with wallpaper. If you want to make it fun, put a different cutout in each drawer.
Shelf with wallpaper. The bottom of this bookshelf didn’t say anything. Thanks to this orange wallpaper with organic baroque patterns, it has completely changed its look. In order not to overload the environment, leave the wall in plain color.
Bedside table with wallpaper. Any piece of wallpaper will do, it does not need to be a very large leftover. This bedside table was boring before dressing in turquoise blue and adhesive paper with black drops. A great success.