Saturday, October 18, 2008

Save It Saturday: old magazines

The average household gets 11 magazines each month. That adds up to a lot of space, both in your home and in the landfill. Here are some ways we can reduce and re-use our magazines and then recycle what is left over.

Reduce

- Consider checking magazines out of the library instead of buying or subscribing to them. If you in the middle of a subscription, it may be possible to get a refund for unread issues. Contact the magazine's customer service department if interested.

- You can also consider sharing a subscription with a friend or relative. Simply pass the magazine on to them after you finish reading it.

- Look into digital magazine subscriptions. Many magazines have editions available online, some are exactly the same as the print version and some have even more material than the print versions. Some magazines are only available in digital format.


Re-use

- Shred or crumple the pages and use for packing material when shipping fragile items.

- Cut out pictures and use them to decoupage items for gifts or decorations. WikiHow has directions for decoupaging. You can decoupage a wide variety of items from jewelry boxes, to light switch covers, to table tops; pretty much anything that has a flat surface.

- Use the pages to make paper beads and then string them onto thread to make necklaces. KinderInfo has directions for making paper beads.

- Let your kids or grandkids, use them to make collages. If you do not have children or grandchildren or simply have more magazines than you need, daycares, schools, and church nursery/children's programs are often more than willing to take extras off your hands for this exact purpose.

- Use the pages as a table protector when working on crafts. Be sure to overlap the edges so nothing gets underneath.

- Open up an envelope and trace it onto an interesting magazine page. Then glue the page into a custom envelope.

- You can use the subscription cards and probably the pages themselves (I have never tried this with glossy paper) to make homemade paper. Unique Projects has directions for making homemade paper.

Recycle

- Nursing homes and hospitals are often willing to take recent, unwanted magazines for patients to read. Libraries may also accept them either to put into circulation or to sell at their used book sales.

- Check with your local used book store and see if they will buy or take your unwanted magazines.

- If you have a complete year or just older editions, you could try listing them on eBay. eBay does not allow the sale of current issues though.

- Post the magazines on Freecycle or a similar type group.

- Bring them to your local recycling center or put out with your other paper recyclables.

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