At Christmas we create over 2.25 million tonnes of rubbish, meaning around 40kg per person (the weight of a child!) This rubbish includes 35.5 million glass containers, 2.1 million aluminium cans, 1,417 tonnes of aluminium foil and 83 square kilometres of wrapping paper. Recycling helps the environment. If we throw our rubbish away it is put into a landfill, where it produces methane which links to global warming.

	Get recycling, and make some paper with your left over paper...
	Tear up your scrap paper into small pieces. Soak them in a bowl of warm water for around 15 minutes.
	Beat the paper with an egg whisk until it becomes a thick mush. Make sure the paper fibres are well mixed into the water and that the mixture is not too thick. If it is add more warm water.
	Take some thin wire mesh (you can get this from car maintenance shops and craft shops). Place the mesh into the bowl and lift it carefully, keeping it flat. Some of the fibres will stick to the mesh. (you can use any size mesh and build up your sheet of paper)
	Let the water drain away and then carefully turn it upside down onto a piece of blotting paper (or a clean dish cloth) on a newspaper.
	Remove the mesh. Tip: take your time so as not to disturb the fibres too much.
	Place a couple of pieces of blotting paper over the top and roll with a rolling pin to squeeze out the water.
	You can now leave it to dry or iron it.
	When dry carefully remove the blotting paper. Leave for 24 hours and then you can use it.
	If you want to make a big sheet of paper you can repeat the process with the wire mesh, ensuring you overlap the edges of each additional piece until you have created a large area. Then blot and dry as described above.