Recycle This Pittsburgh

Tissue Paper

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Tissue paper used for gift wrap is typically very thin and not good for paper recycling. This kind of paper is not accepted by Pittsburgh’s curbside recycling. Instead, try to keep and reuse your tissue paper for future gifts. Or, if it’s reached the end of its life and doesn’t have any glitter or other embellishments embedded in it, you can compost it.

Look for Tissue Paper made from Recycled Paper and Compost-Friendly.

Look for tissue papers made from post-consumer materials to support the recycling market. Also try to avoid tissue paper that adds glitter, plastic film, or other embellishments that would make the paper unsuitable for composting.

The best way to include tissue paper in your composting is to shred it and make sure it is balanced out with a mix of other compostables. If you have access to a commercial composting service drop-off, this is also a good destination for plain tissue paper.

If you want to know more about composting in Pittsburgh, The Incline published a guide in 2018 that gives a lot of good information. PRC also hosts regular local workshops where attendees are taught how to compost and given a compost bin to get started with backyard composting.

Consider Reusable Wrappings Techniques

If you wrap your gift in tissue paper using tape, this often leads to the paper tearing when the gift is opened and means that the tissue paper will be harder to reuse. Instead, consider securing the wrapping with a natural ribbon or twine which could be untied or cut off, or consider giving your gift in a gift bag nestled in loose tissue paper, which can then be saved and reused by you or your gift recipient.

Or you could forgo paper completely and look to traditions like Japanese furoshiki, which uses fabrics to wrap gifts.