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Recycle Newspaper:
Have an old fashioned paper drive





Did you know 38.2 percent of our total waste is from paper and paperboard?

When I was little, I remember helping my Dad haul all of our collected newspapers to the neighborhood school every few months for a paper drive. I wonder why we don't see paper drives as much anymore.

Well there is nothing that says we can't bring back this great tradition, recycle newspapers, raise a bit of money for your organization, and help the environment in the process. Yesterday's news can soon be tomorrows news.

"The best friend on earth of man is the tree. When we use the tree respectfully and economically, we have one of the greatest resources on the earth."

- Frank Lloyd Wright

Many schools have already partnered with fundraising companies that recycle newspaper and provide a recycling dumpster on the school grounds. So if you are raising funds for your school, you already have several resources available to you. If your school is not already partnered,

Paper Retriever GraphicYou can find more information here on how to recycle newspaper at your school...

Otherwise, let's roll up those sleeves and get that paper drive rolling!

Choose a coordinator
It's always best to have one key person to coordinate your program. It keeps confusion to a minimum when there is one central point of contact.

Create a timeline
Keep in mind that a successful drive can take 6 to 8 weeks to coordinate and execute. This isn't a spur of the moment program.

Set a realistic target
Make sure that all your volunteers and participants know what your fund raising efforts will benefit. Do you need new uniforms or are you funding a choir trip? What is your project's goal?

Determine your collection area
You will need to determine how large of an area that you would like to target for your participants. Do you want to involve just your school, or do you want to increase your audience to include other neighborhoods? Often your goal will dictate your coverage.

Determine how your papers will be collected
There are several options available to collect your newspapers. Your choice will often depend on your location, resources, and availability of transportation Newspaper Truck

  • If you have the resources and transportation, you can organize a curbside pickup. This is the most convenient method for the donators and will likely yield more papers, but it requires more from the volunteers and coordinator.

  • If your organization would like to recycle newspapers as an ongoing fund raiser, you can research the many companies available that will place a dumpster like container in your school or church parking lot so that newspapers can be dropped off at any time.

  • If you are only interested in a periodic or one time drive, you can coordinate a temporary area to drop off newspapers. You could use your school or church parking lot, your own residence, a grocery store parking lot, the possibilities are endless. Try to select a convenient and centralized location so that your donations can come from a wide area.

Create your announcements
Ensure that in any communication regarding your event, you include the following information:

  • WHO is sponsoring the paper drive. You should include a contact name and a phone number for any questions

  • WHAT is being collected

  • WHEN the newspapers will be collected

  • HOW the proceeds will be used

Get the word out
Try any and ALL of the following methods to make sure everyone knows to recycle newspapers and support your drive: flyers, posters around town (groceries and drugstores often have community bulletin boards to post this type of information), church bulletins, school flyers, newspaper ads, phone calls, word of mouth, and any other creative method you come up with.

Work hard and have some fun
Coordinating your drive will not necessarily be easy, but it can be a wonderful opportunity to get the entire community involved for a worthy cause. The kids and groups will benefit not only from the funds raised but will also gain a real sense of accomplishment from all of their hard work.

More Information on Using Recycling for Fund Raising

Using Recycling as a Fund Raiser
Many fund raising ideas and opportunities are readily available through recycling and as a bonus, you help the economy and environment.

Aluminum Can Recycling
Recycle aluminum cans to raise funds for your school, team, or organization and help the environment in the process.

Recycling Your Cell Phone
Cell phone recycling is yet another way to help raise funds for your organization while helping reduce waste.

Recycling Used Printer Cartridges
Printer cartridge recycling not only helps the environment it also serves as a fund raiser for your club or organization.