Redrawing the paper trail: Managing paper waste resourcefully

Paper  or plastic? Paper of course. To my mind then, this was undoubtedly the right answer. Paper bags are not nearly as nasty as their ocean glutting-toxin leaching- wild life choking-landscape littering plastic counterparts. Whereas plastic trash just does not “go away”,  being readily biodegradable, paper  blends  gracefully into nature.  Paper is of course the right choice …Or is it?

In Jordan, no one bothers to offer this choice, and if someone did today , my answer  would be: Neither. I have my own reusable bag. Paper may be the friendlier domestic trash, but it is certainly not an eco friendly product. Just think trees, water, fuel and carbon and you can imagine paper’s ecological shoe size. And in case you still  need persuasion, check out this excellent video http://www.secret-life.org/paper/. In the war on trash, you cannot be indifferent to the original footprint of the trash components.

So to reduce our paper foot trail,  we have long since opted out of  disposable napkins, tissues, and kitchen towels. And while still holding on to toilet paper, (let’s not get into details), it feels better to know that the kind we use , although not made from recycled pulp ,supposedly comes from “fsustainably managed forests”.  Any gimmick to erase the guilt of flushing away real forests with every trip to the bathroom? (Please let me know if you are aware of any  local toilet paper brands in Jordan which use post consumer recycled paper).

Regrettably though, hard as we continue to try, we still take in disposable paper in many other forms, including newspapers, flyers, greeting and invitations cards,gift wraps (mostly  unsolicited) printing paper , notebooks , inevitable paper  packaging and the occasional bag.

But to be fair,  we pay sincere tribute to the reduce and reuse mantra. I hound everyone at home about wasteful doodling on “dead trees”, and the importance of thinking twice  before pressing the  print command, and of double face printing,  if we really  have to print. I even managed to convince  my more cooperative teenager to use his half full notebooks for two consecutive school years. (Schools should do something about this scandalous waste in school notebooks ).  Still all of this has not prevented used paper from regularly piling up in our garage awaiting its fate. So how have we dealt with this embarrassing paper trail?

Ours is a war on trash ,and sending paper to the landfill via the dumpster is simply not an option.Oxygen deprived landfill conditions  bring the worst out of  paper, turning it into a methane spouting monster stubbornly resisting disintegration. In fact, in some landfills, it is possible to mine decades old newspapers, still in readable conditions, which  papers would  biodegrade within days under better conditions. Paper in landfills is sheer decadence.

Recycling is an obvious solution of course, and one that is now relatively convenient in Amman thanks to Cosmo and Entity Green (no municipal curbside recycling services yet, but but let’s not be picky). Yet,  this would be our option of last resort. Why? Because there is something very suggestive about a pile of used paper . Standing on its own, used disposable paper does not look like trash, but  more like  a potential resource that would be a pity to waste. Succumbing to the  temptation of  exploring waste paper possibilities, this  is what we have been doing ,attempting to do, or planning to do  with used  paper resource.

• Compost: Paper, especially non glossy newspapers, cardboard and brown bags, are a compost bin’s best friend. A considerable volume of our shredded  paper  goes into our many compost bins,  a great way of turning hay into gold. More about this in upcoming  blog posts.
• Paper Firelogs: The idea of turning waste into fuel is truly tempting. Inspired by the product advertised on youtube (search paper log maker) ,we custom built our own log maker . Our first dry log    did not burn successfully , apparently because it was over compacted, depriving it of oxygen.  There will be other attempts though, now that it is sunnier and easier to dry the logs .  Hopefully, we will be able  to share a success story in time for winter heating season.Will keep you posted.
• PaperCrete: Imagine a concrete block, with double the insulation and half the weight. This is the promise of papercrete, concrete made with  a bit of cement and shredded paper rather than sand. Check  out this  http://lxrdesign.biz/Papercrete.htm as well as many other online resources on this subject. If you decide to try  this ,please share your experience and tips. It  would be truly great to  put this  to good use in our upcoming rooftop garden and terrace project.
• Newspaper Bags: Yes, we still have to throw pet litter and other non compostable organic waste into the dumpster, but at least we now bag it  in old newspapers,  a much better option plastic garbage bags .
• Paper Mache Furniture: Paper mache can be put  to wonderful practical uses, as material from which to make sturdy and possibly water resistant functional objects.  I am intrigued by the prospects of  paper mache furniture and home accessories and will try this sometime soon. Maybe we should organize   a paper mache object design and furniture challenge in Amman , just to highlight the latent practical (or even entrepreneurial) possibilities of paper trash. For now, before we ship away extra paper stacks to the recycling center, I  think of things like this .

Do we still have a paper trail? Yes but at least ours does not lead anymore to the landfill.

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