“Every 3,000 sheets of paper costs us a tree.”
To find out if paper is recyclable, follow this general rule: If you scrunch paper and it doesn't spring back, then it can be recycled.
Paper is a valuable recyclable material but only when it is clean. Any paper that is stained with food or cooking oils are not recyclable.
Minimise Your Shredding
Try to avoid shredding paper documents unless they really do have personal information on them. So yes, shred a credit card bill, but take out the flyers and advertisments that are included and put them in your regular recycling collection.
Rather than shredding a whole document, you could just remove your address and shred that part, and put the rest into your recycling bin. Many local councils will collect shredded paper in your regular household recycling collections. Your local councils may ask that you put it in a paper bag or paper envelope before placing it in your recycling bin. You should always check your local council's policy before putting shredded paper into your recycling bin.
Magazines
Magazines are recyclable. However, a lot of artists use magazines for their art projects so it’s useful to see if there is anyone in need of them in your local area before discarding them. If you have newer magazines you can donate them to libraries, waiting rooms, family shelters and/or nursing homes.
Newspapers are recyclable.
Remove any plastic wrapping from newspapers and magazines - this can be recycled with plastic bags at larger supermarkets.
Receipts
Receipts are among many items in the UK that can't currently be recycled because they're made from more than one material.
Receipts are coated with BPA and are not recyclable or compostable. The sure-fire way of disposing receipts is to burn them.
Brown paper & cardboard
The main types of cardboard found at home are corrugated cardboard (i.e. packing boxes) and the types used for food and drink packaging. Both types are recyclable but councils sometimes collect them separately.
Brown paper should be recycled with card because it causes brown flecks in new paper. Greeting cards can be recycled as long as they are free from glitter, badges and batteries.
Used pizza boxes and parchment paper
Typically the bottoms of pizza boxes are too greasy to be recycled. So, you will need to separate the lid and bottom of your pizza box so you can recycle the lid.
Parchment paper should be thrown out with your general rubbish. However, you can reuse parchment paper several times and then ultimately compost it.
Gift wrap and greeting cards
Non-paper gift wrap or bags (e.g. foil-based gift wrapping) cannot be recycled. The same goes for greeting cards with glitter and embellishments. Where possible glitter, ribbons, badges and batteries should be torn off greeting cards before recycling them. These embellishments cannot be recycled so should be removed first by simply tearing off that section. Batteries should also be removed from musical cards and disposed of at battery recycling points.
