Recycle Paper Waste to Benefit Your Community

At the girls’ elementary school, they started a recyclable program called The Paper Retriever. The recycling bin was placed in the school parking lot and is accessible at anytime of day or night. It benefits the school and with the help of the community, this program raises funds for school projects, scholarships, field trips and more!

Did you know that paper comprises 60% of a schools waste stream? Removing paper from the trash cans and recycling it decreases disposal costs and increases environmental benefits!

Below are some facts that I found on the Paper Retriever website.

Every ton of paper recycled saves:

• 17 trees
• 6,953 gallons of water
• 58.7 pounds of air pollution
• 3.06 cubic yards of landfill space
• 4077 kilowatt hours of energy

Within a 5 mile radius of our home, I located more than 15 different bins benefiting schools, non-profits and places of worship.

Here is a list of recyclable items that our area supports.

• Newspaper and Inserts
• Magazines/catalogs – The Retriever program is happy to take magazines and catalogs, all slick paper. The only exception is any paper coated in wax.
• Office/School papers – They are able to accept window envelopes, paperback books, workbooks and staples without a problem. No colored paper, wrapping or tissue paper, carbon paper or sticky notes are acceptable, however.
• Mail – Most direct mail is printed on high quality recyclable paper. You can shred the mail to protect any personal information and then place in paper trash bags to recycle.

The list of recyclables may vary slightly in different areas. You can find the list of recyclable items as well as locations of Paper Retrievers that may be in your communities at this link. Paper waste in homes contribute to 1/3 of our trash. With little time and mindfulness of what paper waste can be recycled in our homes, we can contribute to our communities in more ways than one!