When you put clean, dry paper in your blue recycle bin, it gets sent to a mill where it is made into new paper. Recycling paper saves water and energy. It also saves trees as new trees don’t have to be cut down when making new paper from old paper.
In this activity, you will turn your home into a paper mill and make new paper from old.
Follow along as you watch the video, use the instructions below the video, or download and print the PDF version of this activity. Good luck!
What you will need:
- Paper from your recycle bin
- Old kitchen blender ~ get permission, it may never be good at making smoothies again after this!
- Towels
- Water
- Sponge
- Wire mesh stretched on any shape frame shape
- Cutting board
Steps:
- Tear up bits of paper from the recycle bin and put into blender. Not too much, 1-2 pages is enough.
- Add lots of water.
- Blend the paper on high to make PULP. 10-15 seconds should do it.
- Re-shape the pulp by pouring it onto a mesh screen.
- Press out the water by using towels and sponges.
- Remove paper from screen and use a towel, cutting board and your own body weight to press out more water.
- Remove from towel and let paper dry.
Once the new paper is dry, you can write on it, color it, and cut it into shapes just like any other paper. You can even add a bit of colored paper to the pulp in the blender if you want new paper to have pizzazz!
This activity is brought to you by The Spokane County Regional Solid Waste System, a proud sponsor of the EnviroKids Club. You can learn more about reducing your waste by practicing the 3 Rs at TalkTrashSpokane.com.