So I've mentioned here before that I do a lot of writing by hand. It's not unusual for me to print out troublesome scenes so I can work on them by hand, and every manuscript gets completely printed at least twice.
Needless to say, this means I use a lot of paper.
A LOT of paper.
Those are the remnants of about 7 months' worth of printing. And of course, they will eventually get recycled.
But part of me still feels guilty about wasting paper. Even though it's going to get recycled, I feel a ridiculous little pang of guilt every time I drop a few more pages onto that ever-growing stack. I should use those sheets, just one more time, before they're off to be repulpified (that's a word).
So, I do what my co-worker and I used to do when I still worked in an office: cut pages into four smaller pieces.
Instant replacement for sticky notes and index cards!
So now they've been used twice. They have writing on both sides. To the recycling bin!
Ah, but not all of them make it to the recycling bin. Some still have a little bit of destiny left in their dirty little hearts.
But Lori. What the hell can you do with crumpled paper?
If you're asking yourself (or me) that question, I can only come to one conclusion.
You don't have cats.
I'm not sure if this makes me an obsessive recycler/reuser, or an incredibly cheap cat parent, but the paper's getting used and my cat is entertained. I REGRET NOTHING!!!
My work puts out paper for scratch paper. I like that idea. My cat has always preferred the home made play toys than anything I ever bought. I say, forget the guilt. Use your paper twice and recycle, in as many ways as you think of. You go girl! Cathye C
ReplyDeleteMy cat is the same way. She couldn't care less about store-bought toys (except the ones with Valerian root in them), but balls of paper or wadded up candy wrappers? She goes nuts.
ReplyDeleteLori
Favorite toys here: furry rattly mice (May), the pulltabs from the top of my 1/2 gallons of Silk Soymilk (Chaos, who can recognize the sound of one being removed), and post-its stolen from the living room/office wastebasket (Mayhem)...
ReplyDeleteMy cat is not so into crumpled paper -- he likes his jingle balls. But I think I have (finally!) a use for all my random paper waste: I'm going to start vermicomposting, and apparently paper & cardboard (non-color-printed) are a perfect bedding material for the worms. So I'm kinda weirdly excited about that, actually.
ReplyDelete