Can You Recycle Tissue Paper: Composting and reusing ideas

Tissue papers are vastly used in all corners of the world. During traveling, they are the foremost useful items. It is crucial to recycle them because recycling a specific material maintains a proper balance of the earth. Furthermore, it brings about consistency in maintaining the temperature of our planet. It signifies that the optimum temperature range can get influenced if things aren’t recycled appropriately. Not only this, but recycling tissue paper has other benefits too. It leads to a significant decrease in landfill trash and helps synthesize some other products of the same material. Now, let’s know about this in detail.

Can you recycle tissue paper?

Before diving into further knowledge, let’s understand the meaning of recycling. It pertains to altering an already used item so that it can be used again without disturbing the natural components of the surroundings. Now, arriving at the question. Tissue papers are not compatible with recycling because they are composed of extremely fine fibers. However, thick papers can be recycled, and they can be widely reused in numerous ways.

This phenomenon isn’t quite a complicated one, which will be proved after reading this article. Any substance, be it small or large, can be recycled as long as it doesn’t contain any elements that can cause harm or threat to the environment. Substances like heavy metals foil and glitters release some poisonous gases, which can seriously impact the environment. Tissue paper, being a light paper, can be reused and not recycled. It can also be composted but keep in mind that the paper has to be 100% organic and non-toxic. 

9 Ways to reuse Tissue Papers

1. Mini garland

To make a mini garland with tissue papers, you require scissors, thread string, tape, and of course, tissue papers.

• Begin with folding these tissue papers accurately. Fold the paper thrice from the longer side.
• After folding them, you are going to need scissors. With the help of scissors, put some long cuts in a straightened pattern. Keep in mind that you are not supposed to cut the paper from its end to the upper end. Leave the upper space and leave the cuts just below it.
• Afterward, open one of the folds and separate these flap-like portions into two by cutting from the middle. Later, open another fold of both the papers individually and fasten it so that the left uncut portion remains in the middle.
• After rolling it like this, fold them into half and again start to roll their uppermost structures to hang them on a thread.

If you cannot understand this step, you can use a tiny piece of paper to glue this on the thread. In the end, apply the tape at the extreme ends of the string, and you will get a fabulous mini garland.

2. Photo frames

For making or redesigning your memorable photo frames, tissue paper can greatly aid. These days, people like to keep their apartments simple yet elegant. They often approach an interior designer, especially for rooms or items involving photo frames. Now, the choice to design your photo frame is totally upon you. If you want to go for a self oneself-design frame, then you can opt for this simple step.

• Collect a photo of your choice, thick cardboard, tissue paper, glue, and some colors.
• Paste the selected picture at the center of your cardboard.
• Later, tear many portions of tissue paper roughly and crush them into irregular patterns.
• With the help of glue, stick these patterns to the leftover areas on the cardboard.
• You can also color these papers before crushing them if they are plain white.

In this way, tissue paper can be used to make glorious photo frames.

3. As wrapping papers

The most efficient and accurate way to use tissue paper is to use them as wrapping paper. This is so because wrapping any item requires little effort and materials. For this, you will require some tissue paper, tape, brown paper, and the item to be wrapped.

• At first, just wrap tissue paper on the item and use good tape for this purpose.
• Later, cut irregular segments of brown paper on the surface of this just wrapped tissue paper. This can be done with the help of glue because the tape can make it look a bit messy.
• For the finishing touches at the end, you can use ribbons, bows, or glitters to fancy your gift item.

This easy-to-do wrapping method increases the present’s beauty and makes it look more appealing. Moreover, it is made with environmentally friendly brown paper.

4. DIY jars

Tissue papers are essentially helpful in decorating jars and containers. This is as simple as any other trick to use these papers. Before coming to the process, collect some basic and essential items which are required to make this beautiful jar. For this, you will require scissors, tissue paper, a jar (preferably transparent), a sponge, and glue (preferably mod podge). The reason behind using a transparent jar is that the tissue paper pattern will appear more pleasing on them.

• First, surface the transparent jar and use a sponge to coat it with mod podge. Do this step quickly so that it doesn’t dry.
• Now, paste the segments of tissue paper on the glue. It will be better to cut these segments before applying mod podge as this saves the time for pasting on the jar before drying the mod podge. You can cut these tissue papers in any shape of your choice, be it polka dots or heart structures.
• After this, apply another layer of mod podge to this jar to protect it from getting washed away by water. With this, your DIY jars are ready to use. 

5. Pom poms for house decor 

This can sound impractical to most people, but soon, you will know that it is possible to make these pom poms.

• For this, you will require some tissue paper, a thin metallic wire, and scissors. Firstly, start these papers on one another.
• Afterward, make some folds to form accordion pleats. After making plates till the very end on paper, you will require scissors.
• With the help of scissors, round the stack digest of these papers by cutting certain moderate sections.
• Later, mark the center of this and use the thin metallic wire to wind around this middle section of the paper. Make several loops and keep a bit of this wire protruding outwards to hang it with a hook later.
• Next, spread apart these papers in the direction where it faces the ceiling of your room. Spread apart these sheets from one layer to another layer.

Follow this procedure on both sides of the loop, and you will get a pom having immense volume. You can hang this in your room or anywhere else you want. 

6. Artificial flowers

To make artificial flowers, you require some tissue paper, colored tape, thin metallic wire, and scissors. The criteria for making artificial flowers is almost similar to that of making pom poms. The only difference is that you have to wound colored tape around a thin metallic wire.

• Start with stacking tissue papers and then fold them to form accordion pleats throughout the paper. Afterward, cut the sideward edges of this paper to develop a neat and round shape.
• Now, use a metallic wire to wound it around the middle section of the sheet. Ensure several loops and then fan out these sheets in the direction of facing your room’s ceiling. With this, the thin protruding section of wire has to be taped with a color, preferably green, as it goes with almost all flowers.
• If the tissue papers used are yellow, you can get an artificially developed sunflower. Hence, with different color combinations of your choice, you can make these flowers and place them anywhere as a decor item in your house.

7. Alphabets and numbers for parties

On several occasions like birthdays and anniversaries, we often require some decorated structures of alphabets and numbers. These can now be easily made. For this, you will only require cardboard, tissue paper, scissors, and glue (preferably mod podge).

• At first, draw any alphabet or letter on your cardboard. After this step, use scissors to cut this portion.
• Now, use some tissue paper and crumble each of them into an irregular ball-like structure with its fans facing the ceiling of your room.
• Repeat the similar procedure with many tissue papers.
• Later, apply mod podge on the cardboard and stick these crumbled tissue papers on it. This step must be carried out in such a manner that the whole surface of the box gets covered with them.
• Leave this for some minutes to ensure that tissue papers get properly blued onto the cardboard covering.

With this, your customized alphabet holding gets designed. You can use it for any occasion or event. 

8. Ruffled walls

Tissue papers can also be used to design and style a simple-looking wall in your room. At first, you have to choose any design that you want to put on your wall. Suppose you want to put a heart on the wall.

• To start this, draw a thin outline of a similar shape on your wall.
• After this, take tissue paper of some dark color and crush it into an irregular structure with its fans facing the ceiling.
• Afterward, stick it to the wall with an adhesive similar to the mod podge. Paste these crushed papers inside the outline of the heart.
• Fill the complete surface of the wall inside the outline with crushed tissue paper. Finally, wait for it to dry, and your wall is ready. The stylish design on the walls of your room makes it look even more elegant and serene. 

9. Origami creativity

Origami DIYs are the best tools to test your creativity. Even toddlers tend to increase their creative minds with these activities. Origami can be carried out with several different papers. It’s best to use tissue paper because they are easily accessible and easy to use. Also, it is better not to use any expensive paper at the beginning of trying new art. For these factors, tissue paper can be effectively used to carry out different Origami crafts. 

Composting tissue paper

Unused tissue papers can be used to compost. This is so because the used tissue papers can contain harmful toxins and germs. This can lead to deterioration of the soil quality to a great extent.

• Step 1: To start the process of composting, gather some important substances like vegetable or fruit peels, shovel, water, dry leaves, and tissue papers.

• Step 2: Later, categorize the substances into two groups, mainly carbon and nitrogen parts. The carbon part accounts for the grounds in the compost pile, whereas the nitrogen part accounts for the greens in this pile. The carbon-rich part contains fruits and vegetable peels. On the other hand, nitrogen-rich part contains items like brown papers, newspapers, or tissue papers along with dry leaves shredded finely. These include the items which are made with pulp obtained from wood.

• Step 3: After categorizing them, search for a suitable location, keeping in mind that the site is easily accessible to you in case of an emergency due to harsh weather conditions.

• Step 4: Later on, set a composting bin at this place by keeping it in contact with sunlight. Start to add layers of browns and greens in the bin. The accurate ratio has to be 30:1, which implies that for every 30 parts of browns, 1 part of greens is added. Add alternative layers until the bin gets piled up. Make sure to splash some water on the surface of dry layers.

• Step 5: Next, cover this with a shelter. After every week, mix this material with the help of a shovel and water if needed. If the weather conditions are extremely hot, keep adding water from time to time so that the pile does not dry up. On the other hand, if there is high rainfall, make sure to provide a proper shelter to the bin to protect the water from percolating inside, which can lead to leaching or washing away of nutrients.

After 30 days, your compost will be ready. There is an advantage of using tissue paper in the composting process. These papers tend to absorb excess moisture from the pile, thereby increasing the course of decomposition.

Precautions while composting tissue papers:

1. Never burn the paper

It should not be burnt if the tissue paper contains foils, glitters, or other synthetic materials. This is so because on burning these papers, many toxic chemicals are released into the air. These toxic gases get mixed up with environmental oxygen and become a wide cause of asthmatic problems.

This mundane activity can lead to severe damage to both humans and animals, and it can damage the cuticle or dermal layers present on the skin too. The respiratory tract also gets disturbed. Some major gases which are released on burning them are metallic oxides, nitrogen oxide, and carbon dioxide.

Not only this, but the natural temperature of the environment also starts to increase. As a result, this leads to many disturbances in the swift flow of nature, like the melting of polar ice caps and making the atmosphere unbearably hot.

2. No foils or glitters

Tissue papers that contain foils or glitters must not be put to compost or burn. The reason behind this is that foils and glitters take a longer time to decompose than most other papers. Also, they contain some harmful and heavy metals which are unfit to be added in the process of composting because it gets hindered.

Not only this but on burning such tissue papers, harmful chemicals and gases are released into the atmosphere, which can lead to becoming a major cause of asthma and skin-related issues in humans and animals. Therefore, tissue papers synthesized with foils and glitters must be strictly avoided. You can still use them for DIY creative items or decorations, but they cannot be used in any natural procedures.

3. 100% recyclable paper

Tissue papers can be easily composted if they are made from 100% recyclable paper. This paper is made-up of natural pulp obtained from completely organic wood. Also, it is free from harmful synthetics.

If the tissue papers contain soy-based natural colors, they can still be composted and burned because these papers are not getting to cause any harmful elements in the atmosphere. Also, these tissue papers are devoid of glitters and foils and are composed of fully organic material. This quality makes them fully fit to be used for reusing and recycling. From composting to decomposition, they can never hinder any process.

4. No harmful colors

Harmful colors are generated from different types of synthetic dyes. These dyes are made by cracking crude oil and petroleum. They are organic yet harmful. This is so because such chemical-based colors can significantly cause eye infections in children. Along with this, these tissue papers, on burning, release many oxides of carbon and nitrogen into the atmosphere.

This disrupts the clean airflow as they get mixed with poisonous substances. To prevent this, tissue papers can be made from natural colors. These natural dyes can be extracted from the petals of different natural flowers, or the dye can be soya based, made of soybeans. It is important to use only non-toxic colors to manufacture tissue papers. Otherwise, they can result in disturbing repercussions.

Advantages of recycling Tissue Papers

• No air pollution

mentioned mention precautions help in keeping the air safe for breathing purposes. If, by any chance, the air gets polluted due to these papers, it can include the remains of certain heavy metallic oxides and many other gases. Due to this harmful air, many skin problems can pertain in the long run by damaging the dermal years.

Also, this can cause many breathing issues in children and adults because the fresh air now contains harmful oxides of carbon and nitrogen, which mix with hemoglobin in the blood and cut off the supply of pure oxygen to the organs. With time, this can cause severe ailments in a person’s health. In many cases, infections are also caused due to such a type of pollution. Hence, by using fully recyclable tissue papers, we can save the environment from air pollution to a huge extent.

• No land pollution

As per a trusted survey of the USA, in 2014, the total solid waste was estimated to be approximately more than 255 million tons, out of which more than 65% of the waste was accumulated in landfills. This implies that just a small fraction of total waste is brought to the phenomenon of recycling or composting.

These numbers are quite significant, making this matter to worry about. Pollution caused due to landfill waste allows many diseases to grow and inhabit the area. Also, the harmful gases from such waste are released into the environment, thereby making this a serious issue. On a global level, many animals suffer due to this problem, as they get confused between some harmful waste matter and food which later becomes a reason cause cancer and loss of appetite.

Conclusion 

It is essential to recycle tissue papers; otherwise, they will just lead to harmful impacts on the earth. Also, it is high time to look at these matters with serious concern. Recycling tissue paper is not favorable on an industrial level as it is made of minute threads, but it can be reused in many ways. The process of composting helps in reducing pollution, and other methods promote the reuse of these papers.