How to Make Recycled Paper?

What happens to paper after you use it? Most of it ends up in landfills, or it is burned. If you recycle paper, you will help save the planet by reducing landfills and carbon emissions which cause global warming.

Making new paper from the old paper is simple. You will go through a process similar to that of a paper recycling mill. This involves making pulp, adding it to a specialized machine that moves the pulp through a long screen. Water is squeezed from the pulp through the screen to make paper.

But the paper you will be making today at home will be rougher and thicker than what paper mills make. Soft paper is made by passing it through different machines.

Below is all you need to make recycled paper at home.

• An egg beater or a blender
• A mixing bowl
• A pan or flat dish
• A rolling pin or round jar
• Scrap paper, wrapping paper or newsprint
• A piece of screen
• Pieces of cloth and newspaper to blot the recycled paper
• Hot water
• Instant starch

What you should do

Step 1

Tear the newspaper, wrapping paper or scrap paper into small pieces. Add some hot water to the shredded paper

Step 2

Beat the water and paper mixture in a blender to make a pulp until it is smooth. If you will write on the paper, add starch to prevent ink from blotting the paper when you write on it.

Step 3

Pour out the pulp into your flat pan.

Step 4

Slide the screen to the bottom of your pan and then move it around until the pulp covers it evenly.

Step 5

Lift the screen from the pan slowly. Hold it steady for several minutes for excess water to drain.

Step 6

Place the screen with the pulp side up onto a blotter resting on a newspaper. Add another blotter to the pulp and a couple of newspaper sheets on top of that.

Step 7

Using a rolling pin, squeeze the remaining excess water from the pulp

Step 8

Once you are satisfied with it, remove the newspapers at the top and flip the blotter and screen carefully. Ensure the pulp doesn’t move in the process. Your pulp will need between 12 and 24 hours to dry. The actual time depends on how wet and thick the paper is. And just like that, you’ve completed your recycled paper making project. If you have any leftover pulp, do not pour it down the drain – it will clog the system. Instead, throw it in the trash.

Step 9

You can try this process with decorative elements, including glitter, dried flowers, leaves, coloured thread and other crafty material. The idea is to add flair to your paper especially if you are making notepaper or cards for a loved one.

To make thinner papers, the process will be longer and needs extra tools to pull off. Also, on the drying process, you can implement several drying methods including surface drying, exchange drying, no restraint drying, or dry on a cloth. Each of these methods will take different times to dry.