Recycling Tips for Printable Paper

For every ton of paper recycled, 17 trees live! If you are dealing with a lot of paper in your home or office, here are some tips to help keep your environment cleaner and greener.

1. Separate printable paper into three groups: color, white, and newspaper. Newspaper can be tied together with twine or placed in brown bags to make collection easier. Mixed paper includes everything from magazines to colored flyers. Make sure to remove all non- paper items like rubber bands, plastic wrappers and the like. Staples are okay.

2. Re-use scrap paper for making notes or writing memos. This can be done by ripping off edges, using the reverse side, or folding in half custom stock sheets.

3. Keep a pile of recyclable paper on or under your desk. This provides easy access to scrap and reduces time by keeping your trip to the recycle bin to just one daily visit rather than having to get up every time you want to throw something away.

If you follow these tips, you will not only have a more environmentally friendly office or home, but you will feel better about doing your part in the global effort to reduce waste. And if you’re looking to buy printable paper, heavyweight paper or custom stock sheets that you can eventually recycle, www.LimitedPapers.com is your resource.

A History of Printable Paper

Long before custom stock sheets and heavyweight paper, the Ancient Chinese developed a paper method of their own. Although paper substitutes, like papyrus, bone, and even silk were used to write and transport information, paper was used to wrap and protect items for thousands of years. The court official Cai Lun is credited with inventing modern day paper around the year 8 A.D. He is said to have taken his ideas from bees. Weaving mulberry and other plants and fibers together he created a writable product.

During the 8th century, the first paper mills opened in Baghdad after Chinese secrets spread to the west. Christian Europe, however, was reticent in accepting this new technology, viewing it as a Muslim attempt to control foreign lands. After Gutenberg’s invention of the printing press, paper spread in popularity, but it was still a scarce resource. Most paper fibers were hemp and linen rags.

Until the 19th century paper was not readily available. When the steam driven paper mill appeared, it became the standard for paper production, but it was not until the latter part of the century that wood pulp began to be favored over rags.

Today printable paper is usually bleached white, while heavyweight paper is colored using dyes and other techniques. Although a lot has changed over the years, it’s pretty clear that the development paper has contributed to the advancement of human technology.

Paper For Any Job!

There are many different types of paper. Each best fits a description for each job your office does. Here is a list of how weight accords with style and purpose.

Some of the lighter paper around is best for certificates, directories, fliers, forms, handbills, letterheads, newsletters, photocopy, quick printing, and resumes. This printable paper is for writing jobs predominantly and is weighed anywhere from 9-28. Carbonless paper is supplementary to this group because it is used for paper that can be rapidly disposed of, such as receipts, invoices, and purchase orders. This paper usually weighs under 20.

Heavyweight paper is usually used for annual reports, announcements, art reproductions, books, brochures, calendars, posters, self-mailers. This paper is longer lasting, weighing anywhere from 60-100, and will not detiorate over the course of time. It can also be used for business cards, calendars covers for annual reports, books, catalogs and directories folders, greeting cards, invitations, menus, point of purchase displays, post cards , posters, table tents, and tickets.

After the paper used for text, coated books and cover paper is the really heavyweight paper – board. 90-175 is the usual weight of these papers as it can be used for any heavy duty job you have. That pretty much runs the paper gamut. Now you should be able to choose what kind of paper suits you best.

Art Class Notes: Heavyweight Paper and Such

I teach art class to elementary school children. I’ve been doing it for a long time now – almost twenty years. I do it because I love children, and I love art. Teaching children to foster their creative instincts is so rewarding, especially when I see the joy they get from working intensely on their projects, and the pride they have when they show the class their finished product.

I especially like the collage project I teach once a year. During this project, I tell the kids that they can bring in whatever they want, but it has to be able to stick to paper, at least with Elmer’s glue. Some of the kids get pretty crazy, wanting to bring in action figures and sticks and leaves they find at recess, but others are more sedate, and are satisfied with the choice of heavyweight paper I provide. I tell the school about the custom paper size I need and they deliver it. I encourage the kids to cut the heavyweight paper and paste it to make a sort of rainbow collage.

The final results vary, and even though I have already chosen a custom paper size, I’ve seen some projects that wind up being twice the size of the original paper I chose. In any event, every year it’s always something different and that’s another reason why I love it!