How can I reuse or recycle … old phone books?
Now that the lovely internet is here for my every need, I can’t remember the last time I used a phone book. But still, every year or so we get phone books, Yellow Pages, Thompson directories…
They sit on our shelf for a little while, gathering dust and taking up space, then, during one of his many ill-timed cleaning frenzies, John will suddenly want to get rid of them and won’t rest until they’re out of the house or at least relocated to somewhere not in his frenzy path.
So any ideas what we can do with them?
I keep an old phone directory around and use pages from it as disposable clean-up rags.
Great for all the different things that come out of our cats.
You should try saving them until the holidays come up. Using tons of the pages for stuffing paper or whenever you have something valuable you dont want getting damaged.
they cna be used as steppers..two or more.. and also a good exercise is to put your foot on the “step” and then lean over you outstretched leg.. gently
Stretches the ham strings and is a good exercise for sciatiaca suffres
Rosie
You can shred them up and use them for packing material
You can also shred them up and use them for starting fires in wood stoves, fireplaces, or barbecue grills.
That applies to any paper.
I have recycled these with waste paper collections in Australia and New Zealand. If the paper is similar to newspaper I don’t see why not?
You can’t do that in the UK because the glue used apparently gums up the pulping machine! And the yellow dye makes the paper unusable. So they say.
You can opt out of getting Yellow Pages in the future by calling 0800 671 444.
definitely use the pages for cleaning mirrors and glass, nothing works better for streak free clean than yellow pages or newspaper.
shred and compost
I have heared that yellow pages paper is very good for making papier mache. Not that i’v tried it…
Apparently the pink pages of the Financial Times is also very good.
Put packing tape round it, and use as a kneeling pad for the house or garden
fold it up and use it as an envelope… do your writing on a label
Make a book “safe” out of them, cut the middle of the pages out and store valuable items/keys/jewellery/paasports/money inside.
I’m sure we have all done it at some point in our life and as i run a motel i had a bunch it was time consuming but..i made trees the ones like we did with the readers digest mags when we were ummm younger painted them and donated them to hospitals geriatric centers and homeless shelters.
Run pages through a cross cut shredder and use as confetti instead ot the shiny stuff that is about as bidegradable as an old tire. Kids love to through it. Or run through a regular shredder and use in Easter baskets or filler for gift baskets.
excuse spelling please…. biodegradable and throw instead!
booster seats! just put a stretched out book cover over them and have the kids sit on them at dinner time
I was interested to read this thread, even though it was started a while back, as I work for Yell, publisher of Yellow Pages directories in the UK.
It is a myth that old Yellow Pages directories cannot be recycled because of the glue or the dye – the base white paper and colour surface ink wash has enabled the directories to be recycled into products such as newsprint, cardboard, packaging, egg boxes, insulation and animal bedding for many years.
Almost all – 99% of UK local authorities offer opportunities for recycling of old Yellow Pages directories – the easiest option is kerbside collection – 98% of local authorities currently provide this option.
The directories are actually a very significant source of sales leads for many small businesses and an important way for them to promote themselves. Of course, we also have the online version – http://www.yell.com – and the telephone service – 118 24 7 – for people wishing to find local businesses and information via other ways.
To find out how to recycle your old directory in your area, visit: http://www.yellgroup.com/recycling
Hope this helps.
If you go to Apartment Therapy.com and surf around the site you will find some really neat reuse for the yellow pages, coffee table, and side tables very clever.
And why yellow? Why not recycled what ever?
If anyone has any they would like to dispose of in Yorkshire that are under 18 months old I will more than happily take them off you hands and will collect them if required as they will be really useful to me!
my ideas are:
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tear out pages & put under any paper to paint or glue on w/o big mess
do the same as above but use for pumpkin carving
make paper airplanes
make creative cards & more out of different pages
paper airplanes are definitely a good use for any spare paper that is in relatively good shape
use to line the bottom of the bird cage… or for other pets cages…
Try this if u have a lot of xtra time as well.. U take two old yellow pages books, flip each one all the way to the back, and page by page overlap them on each other all the way throughout the book. Then take some duct tape and tape them around the middle where they overlap so when u pull on them the pages wont pop up and release. Now take two people and ask them to try and pull them back apart! It is humanly impossible, as they did the same thing on Mythbusters and they used fork lifts to try and pull them apart and they still couldnt do it! Its funny to watch people who think they are really strong to try and pull them apart and not be able to… try it! When u have gotten all the fun u have out of it then u can still use them for any of these other listed practical reasons!
my favorite thing to do with old phone books is use them as toilet paper. They are septic safe and as expensive as toilet paper is nowadays, a very cheap alternative. I keep two or three old books right on the floor next to the toilet.
I had to laugh when I read your post, use them as toilet paper. If we still had outhouses, it would be a good idea. When I was growing up, years ago, we used old Sears catalog as toilet paper. It was so nice when they invented toilet paper and when we could afford to buy it. Kinda sounds like now, doesn’t it.
They are very good as bases and pads for pounding or hammering anything, like cracking nuts, or anything that would leave a dent in the surface you are pounding on.
Im turning mine into a pencil holder in the shape of a flower…But the guy that uses it for toilit paper was pretty funny!!
i make phone book x-mas trees around the holidays
you simply fold the pages, including the covers, in half on the diagonal(top left corner to bottom right corner). When completed the front and back covers were taped together and it formed a cone shape. Then we would spray paint them green, then add glitter, those little lick-and-stick stars, etc.
If I have used a frying pan and it is left with grease in it, instead of washing it down the sink, I tend to soak up a bit of the grease with a page or two of newspaper or an old yellow pages directory. This means that less grease goes into the water, into the pipes and when I wash the pan, I need less soap. It also means we don’t use kitchen/paper towels for that, which means less buying of that product in the end too. I don’t know if this all works out as a better option for the environment, but I hope so.