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After Alex mentioned (on How can wikiHow take action against climate change ), that we can contribute new, environment and climate change-related articles here, I thought, I want to help with this-

I just started a new article: How to Reduce Paper Waste . I think it needs improvement, though I’m not sure what exactly needs tweaking. I think it will benefit from some more references (I couldn’t find those that support the idea of the article) and more content on some steps (not specifying steps because step numbers are continuously changing and new steps are being added). Adding 1-2 more steps may also help. (This is a list article, and we generally aim for 10-12 steps on these types.) (Update: as of 14 August 2021 04:34 p.m. IST, there are 16 steps so I don’t think more are really need.)

If you think you can expand the steps, add steps, or put in reputable and neutral sources that support the idea of the article (sources with .org or .edu are a good idea to go with) (or make any other improvements!) you’re free to edit it! I (and mother Earth!) would appreciate it!

Quick update: @CutieCat101 , @ChocoCat1122 , @XxVxX @HelperOnWikihow and I together have added quite some content on some steps. So I think we may focus on the rest of the steps now.

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Just a quick update I want to pop in- I’ve expanded some steps, added images and made some other changes . But help is still needed! If you’re finding and questionable statement, I would appreciate it if you would add a {{Fact}} template at the end of one, so that I (and others!) can work on it.

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Someone told me that the recycling people don’t recycle, they just throw it away…idk if that is true😞

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Aluminum cans get recycled. Glass is normally thrown out. Paper and plastic are hit or miss.

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Whatever it may be, please note that we are trying to collaborate here and this is not a place to discuss other things. Thank you.:slight_smile:

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True! But glass, plastic and paper can also be perfect-well recycled.:slight_smile:

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I agree with both of you. I also think that even though some things can’t be recycled via the yellow bin, you can still re-use them:slight_smile:. Which reminds me of that edit I made. This does seem to be a big issue at the moment, good luck to this article, and @R2_d2000 's wikiGreen contest:slight_smile:

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I noticed that the article says that recycled paper is cheaper, but these store listings show that recycled paper is actually more expensive:

I mean, I’d still but the recycled paper, but it is still more expensive.

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I was going to remove that, but I’m not sure what to replace it with. We can’t really have one sentence.

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@R2_d2000 , @CutieCat101 , hmm… I see, I think there’s some debate and confusion about this. What I think is that recycling paper requires less energy to produce, costing less. But I’m not very sure about this. There are some sites that support my concept, too. Such as:

Another thing is that while buying pencils, I see that regular pencils cost ₹10 or more but pencils made of recycled paper instead of wood cos ₹7 or less. This is a comparison between wood and recycled paper, or course, so this might not be exactly “accurate”, to say the least.

In any case, I’ve reframed the sentence a little, but I’ll surely dig deeper, research, think upon this and see what I should do in some time. (May take upto a week or more, sorry.)

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@Buterflie maybe we could put something like this:
Recycling just one tonne of paper saves 13 trees , 26,500 litres of water, 2.5 barrels of oil and 4,100 kilowatts per hour of electricity. Paper can reasonably be recycled five to seven times before getting thrown away.

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Oh, I totally forgot about paper pencils. Maybe we can put those in the article. Perhaps they can be mentioned in the tips section?

Also, I think that it might be a good idea to have a step about finding products with less packaging. That would help save cardboard, which is a type of paper.

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Good Idea @R2_d2000 ! We should look into finding more information for that, I have nothing else to do, so why not I help!

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I’m browsing around the EPA website right now looking for ideas.

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Is it the US EPA? I am trying to find it. Remember thought hat if you find something specific to one country, we need to say something like: “This information may not be correct for some countries”

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Yes, it is the US EPA. Here is the link:

The statistics are US only, but the ideas can be used anywhere.

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For some reason this caught my eye:Check labels to see if a product or its packaging is made from recycled content.

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Also @Buterflie just wondering what you used to make the pictures in the article.

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I found some additional information:

  • When moving or shipping something, you can use old newspapers to wrap fragile materials.
  • We can save packaging, colored paper, egg cartons and other items for arts and crafts projects. Look for other ways that you can reduce the amount of packing that you throw away.
  • On a printer, use small point fonts when possible. This will allow more information to fit on one sheet.
  • Use paperclips (over staples) when possible. This allows paper to be separated if needed.
  • You can reuse envelopes with metal clasps and reuse file folders by sticking a new label over the previous one.
  • When traveling, you can bring scrap paper for drawing and games.
  • Use cloth napkins instead of paper napkins. Cloth napkins can be washed and reused.
  • Save any wrapping paper. You can use it for packing, or reuse it latter (if it is in good shape).
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I just added to method 9 and managed to get the link

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