Friends in the neghborhood have recently re-done all the flower beds and planting areas in their yard. They were going whole-hog, getting all new plants and ordering a huge load of beauty bark. The person helping them plan the project suggested that instead of using landscape fabric to control weeds, to use newspaper instead. Not only is it cheap (or free--I saved about 10 days' worth of daily newspapers for them, and it was more than enough), it is easy to use...just tear a hole where you want your plant to come through, controls weeds every bit as well, and eventually decomposes, adding nutrients to the soil. I asked yesterday how the project was going, and they were very pleased with how easy the newspaper was to work with, and how well it controls the weeds.
A friend in Utah says that she takes her newspapers to the school recycle bin, because the school makes money from it. She keeps a bin in the back of her Suburban, and once it's filled, she drops it off at the school. I know around here, with curbside recycling being so common, many schools don't use newspaper recycling as a fundraiser anymore, but in places where curbside recycling is in its infancy, taking the newspapers to school is a great idea.
One little anecdote about newspaper recycling from my husband's growing-up years. When he was a teenager, Bellevue was in the Oakland, California, temple district. To raise money to go to the temple to do baptisms, the youth in his ward did a newspaper drive. They each were assigned a huge amount (tons, I believe) to collect. Time was drawing short, and my hubby, despite his best efforts, had not met his quota. One day, he was out in the neighborhood and for some reason decided to stop at a house and ask about newspapers. The homeowner was thrilled, and said: "Boy, do I have newspapers for you!" He proceeded to open his garage, which was stacked floor-to-ceiling with old newspapers. It took his mom several trips in her old Pontiac station wagon to collect all the newspapers.
