Newspapers (especially the Sunday comics) and magazines have some pretty creative uses that can avoid recycling initially. Firstly, newspapers are a great source of information, but what do you do with it afterward? At my house, we get the Sunday papers every weekend, so the papers accumulate and usually end up in the recycling bin. However, I like to collect the comics and use them as wrapping paper. I love to wrap gifts in comics because they are so unique and perfect sized for many gifts. Furthermore, this gives the comic pages an extra life before being thrown into the recycling bin and made into something new.
Also, when I went to Nicaragua, I went to a jewelry making workshop, in which their main focus was seeds. However, other beads that they made were made of magazines. The kids would roll up strips of magazines and make beads out of them. Since magazines are full of pictures, the beads end up being super colorful and unique. This experience was super enlightening to me because it showed me a creative and totally different way of repurposing a magazine.
These a re only two ways of repurposing paper goods, but they are definitely creative. I would love to know other ways I can repurpose paper so it doesn't go straight to the recycling bin. The transportation and process of using paper to make new things still has an effect on the environment, so let's keep our paper at home and give them new jobs!

Hi Ianna! Using the comics to wrap gifts is such a great idea; I will definitely try this in the future. It is great to know that the kids in Nicaragua are reusing paper goods in a new and creative way. I agree that there are some problems with recycling that can be improved. Check out this New York Times article: (http://www.nytimes.com/1994/03/02/opini … 44729.html ). It discusses how current recycling methods are not as efficient as they are meant to be. For example, in New York, cans, plastic, and glass are collected at once and it is a costly job to separate them. Also, consumers may be willing to recycle, but do not have access or made aware of products made of recycled material. Similarly, to the magazine beads, I think papier-mâché is a creative way to reuse newspapers. Also, newspapers can be used to wrap valuables to store or ship.

Angelica, thanks for this insightful article! I would have never thought that recycling would be so much more of a problem than a solution. This article seems to published in 1994, so I am glad that our society has made strides to successfully reuse recyclables to make into new things. I hope that it has become easier to repurpose papers, glass, and metals instead of resorting to raw materials. Furthermore, you are so right about other uses for newspaper. There seems to be so many different ways to utilize newspaper. Here's a link to a bunch of different ways that we can use newspaper: https://www.foe.co.uk/living/articles/4 … -newspaper. I definitely do a few of these, like cleaning our car windows with newspaper!