When two rights can make a wrong

Filed in Blog by on May 16, 2011 4 Comments
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Mrs Green's good idea goes ****! up

Mrs Green's good idea goes ****! up

Take the humble sheet of paper. Once you’ve used it, it’s easy to recycle in your nearest paper recycling bank or even at your kerbside.

Take a piece of polythene. Again, once used, it’s easy to recycle with the carrier bags at some supermarket.

But what happens if you wrap that piece of paper in the polythene and heat seal it with a laminating machine?

Tada!

A wonderful poster that won’t be destroyed by the ravages of time and weather BUT can’t be recycled at the end of its life…

I’ve found three such laminated sheets here at Chez Green, and before you suggest it, I really don’t want to keep them as place mats.

One is an out of date poster and the other is a rather super idea, although I say it myself, of an ever lasting shopping list. Using a china-graph pencil, you can mark on the list whenever you run out of something. What a great way to reduce paper waste!

The trouble is, this one is rather old and it’s surprising how many of these things we no longer buy. Cat food is on there along with many other items we simply don’t buy any more. So yep, it’s everlasting but now I don’t want it to be…

Have you ever tried to do something right on the recycling front, but got it totally wrong? And if you have the answer to recycling laminated sheets or have found ‘eco friendly’ laminating pouches on your travels, I’m all ears!

About the Author ()

I am a long time supporter of the Green and Sustainable lifestyle. After being caught in the Boscastle floods in 2004, our family begun a journey to respect and promote the importance of Earth's fragile ecosystem, that focussed on reducing waste. Inspired by the beauty and resourcefulness of this wonderful planet, I have published numerous magazine articles on green issues and the author of four books.

Comments (4)

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  1. Fonda LaShay says:

    If the back of the shopping list is blank, you can write a new list on it with a permanent marker and still use the china market wipe off method. Just a thought!

  2. I too would like to know where you can buy eco-friendly laminating pouches.

    • Mrs Green says:

      Hi Leslie, I don’t think they can exist because by their very nature, once you laminate a sheet of paper you can’t separate into its component parts. Best way is to pop paper in a plastic sleeve, but that’s not much good for outdoor notices as water can get in…

  3. Susan says:

    Sometimes you can cut the edges off and free the paper to at least recycle that but this depends on the laminater.

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