RECYCLE: Now you can get rid of all those magazines!

If you are like me, a lover of information, you have probably collected hundreds of magazines over the course of several months and years. A trip to the grocery store or Barnes & Noble for me, usually results in an unplanned purchase of several magazines (apart from the handful I actually have subscriptions to) and the actual necessities I had on my shopping list. So what's a mocha beauty to do with the magazines on her shelves and coffee tables after she has read them all? Recycle of course! Recyling magazines and catalogs is easy and one of the things we can do to help our environment. I started recycling my magazines two months ago. It was quite simple. All I had to do was bundle the magazines and catalogs together, then put them out along with my other recyclable waste for the city to pick up.

Here is some information I recently found on what New York City and several organizations are doing in 2008, to promote the awareness of magazine recycling to the public:

"Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg announced on January 30 the New York City launch of ReMix – Recycling Magazines is Excellent! – a national public education campaign aimed at increasing residential recycling of magazines and catalogs. Joining the ReMix effort for the New York City campaign is the Hearst Corporation, Pratt Industries, Time Warner Cable, the Council on the Environment of New York City (CENYC) and its Office of Recycling Outreach and Education (OROE) and the Department of Sanitation (DSNY)."

If you live in the New York City area, and you would like to find out more about how you can recycle your magazines and catalogs call 311 or visit http://www.nyc.gov/.

TIP FOR REUSING YOUR MAGAZINES:

Do you have children? Are you a child at heart who loves visually stimulating works of art or DIY crafts? Well why not create a beautiful, one of a kind, collage with your old magazines and catalogs?

• Step one: Gather your old magazines, glue sticks, glitter, medium and large size contruction paper in various colors, and markers.


• Step two: Review the pages of your magazines to decide upon which images and text you would like to use for yours or your childrens' collage.


• Step three: Have a theme or subject in mind. Let's say you want to make a collage that represents all the things you love about summer. You can look for pictures and words that describe summer, the activities you do in the summer and how you feel during the summer months. For example: pictures of people or children playing at the beach, words such as "fun", "sun", "joy", "hot", and "relax". You can also cut out letters to create your own words and paste them together on your construction paper.


• Step four: Cut out your images, letters and word phrases and decide how to place them in an overlapping, aesthetically pleasing structure on your construction paper. Note -- there should be no "empty" space on your collage. All the construction paper background should be covered by the beautiful words and images you paste on to it.


• Step five: You can create your own "picture frame" or border around your collage, by cutting out images or background color from magazine pages and pasting it around the edges of your collage.


• Step six: After you have pasted all of the words and images on your construction paper, you can finish it by sprinkling a little craft glitter on the areas that may still be wet from your gluestick. This gives your collage a little shimmer!


• Step seven: If there is room, somewhere on the collage, cut out the letters of your first name or your child's first name and glue it in the center of the collage. Or you can write your name on the back of it with a marker that will not bleed through.


• The final product will be a one of a kind piece of artwork that is fun for you or your children to look at. You can have it framed or laminated if you like!

Here is an article on magazine collage which you may find helpful!

Yours in a sea of green,

DuEwa Frazier