My town

My town
Thw view from the top. Literally. I climbed a big hill to get this photo.

Thursday, April 15, 2010

Recycling Paper, Not as easy as it looks

I am a hippie, a hippie with style. I am also some what of an environmentalist. Due to these qualities that I possess I have not intentionally thrown away a piece of paper while I have been in Peace Corps. I have saved everything from receipts to old English tests. Now over the two years I have accumulated quite a bit of paper. Two boxes stuffed full to be exact. That does not include magazines, newspaper, or boxes/packing envelopes. I knew I wanted to recycle this paper just never found a place that accepted paper. Then I got the bright idea I would recycle the paper myself.

The first step in recycling paper would be to shred it. That would be easy if I were not in the middle of nowhere in a country that has no shredders. So, five hours later, the first box was shredded. (If I were smart I would I have shred the paper throughout the years as I put it into the box. That would have been helpful.) Then it had to sit in water. This part wasn’t so bad. I am not sure if you know the process for making recycled paper, but it appears to be easy. I disagree. First I had to find nylon stockings, then fabric. I burnt out one blender trying to make the pulp and moved on to a hand mixer, which works much better. Then the ever so slow process of drying the paper began. I was using an old screen door, hangers with nylons over them, and pieces of screen.

My first pieces came out more like cardboard and they did not want to dry. Then, after three weeks, different recipe mixtures, and many many trips outside to lay the paper to dry, it seemed I had not made a dent in the gallon tub filled with shredded paper. Not to mention I still had another box filled with paper ready to soak. I decided it was time to clean my house. The shredded wet paper went outside to dry. The last pulpy mixture was poured onto a screen, and the other box will just have to go to town (Where, after two years of looking I finally found a place that will accept paper to recycle. It only happens once a month so I am giving the paper to the English teacher to bring for me once I am gone. I hope she doesn’t just burn the paper. That was what I was trying to avoid these past two years. ).

Now, the moral of my story; if you’re going to recycle two years worth of saved paper, maybe prepare a little better and give yourself two years worth of time.

What I have learned about recycling paper in Costa Rica and the things I still need to learn. Newsprint does not like to break down. Envelopes have too much glue to shred nicely. A hand mixer works much better than a blender. Having the correct materials can be very helpful. The sun is wonderful and humidity is not. Making the paper thin is difficult. Drying the paper can take days. And for some reason ants really like the pulp. This leads me to believe there may be sugar in children’s glue. Makes sense why kids like to eat it.

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