One paper airplane, every day, for the next two years.

September 26, 2006 8:13 PM

What to do with 750+ sheets of used letter-sized paper?

My supervisor made me print out a 750+ page document that will be obsolete within a week. The information is not sensitive and does not need to be shredded.

Bonus points for uses that will also gently let my supervisor know this was not one of her brighter ideas.

posted by Lucinda to human relations (29 comments total)

Um, recycle it?
posted by DieHipsterDie at 8:14 PM on September 26, 2006

When a paper cutter's handy, I always cut them in half, stick them all in a big binder clip, and use it as a scrap paper notebook. I once brought it into a meeting to take notes on and the CEO complimented me on saving the company money; I imagine you could use it in meetings with your supervisor for subtle retaliatory effect.
posted by occhiblu at 8:16 PM on September 26, 2006

Cut the whole stack into quarters, paint one edge of each stack with glue and use them as scratch paper. This assumes that one side of each page is still blank, of course.
posted by bonheur at 8:17 PM on September 26, 2006

Shred them, put them in a bucket with a bunch of white wood glue, mix that up (you can get a drill attachment to do this), form that into balls with one flat side.

On the non-flat side write "We only learn from mistakes when we are reminded of them."

Then give them out as paperweights.
posted by Kickstart70 at 8:23 PM on September 26, 2006

Burn them? Using them as scratch paper is too obvious for me. Maybe cut them into quarters and then place them near your toilet and remove all toilet paper then throw a party!
posted by nickerbocker at 8:28 PM on September 26, 2006

occhiblu's idea for the win.
posted by oxford blue at 8:42 PM on September 26, 2006

I second the scratchpad idea. Take it to Kinko's and they'll do it all for you (for a fee, of course).
posted by zardoz at 8:43 PM on September 26, 2006

Since you posted this to human relations; if I was your supervisor, I wouldn't consider any type of retaliation particularly good human relations, no matter how creative your document recycling turns out to be.
posted by forallmankind at 8:49 PM on September 26, 2006

Keep it handy for the inevitable request to print out some other 750+ page document and then print on the other side of these pages.

Nowadays, you can tell the printer to print double-sided. On a mac, this is under File->Print->Paper Handling->Print Odd Numbered Pages. Then you flip the pages over and print the Even Numbered ones.

You can also change the layout settings to print multiple pagespages per sheet. On a mac, this would be File->Print->Layout->Pages per sheet (4, 8 or even 16).

Otherwise, are you handy with paper mache? You could make a paper mache tree decoration for the office.
posted by hooray at 8:53 PM on September 26, 2006

Er, pages not pagespages.
posted by hooray at 8:54 PM on September 26, 2006

Let kids draw on them.
posted by neckro23 at 8:55 PM on September 26, 2006

I dig Kickstart70's idea.

Or scratch paper. That's the general usage in my house. (We have a lot of useless paper.)
posted by sperose at 9:01 PM on September 26, 2006

Keep it handy for the inevitable request to print out some other 750+ page document

Yep. There are times I print things just because I need to hold them in my hands to leaf through them and read them. I usually fish around in the recycling bin for pre-used paper to do this on. It sounds like you've got a nice clean stack of it to last you a long time. Keep it orderly and you're set. Reusing is better than recycling.
posted by scarabic at 9:07 PM on September 26, 2006

You got any kids/nieces/nephews etc in college/uni/other learning institution? Give it to them. My sister brings home a bucketload of used paper from work and I use it to print off lecture notes and drafts of documents.
posted by cholly at 9:23 PM on September 26, 2006

Doorstop?
Placemats for lunch?
Office airplane making contest (then recycle)?
Make a flip cartoon of your boss demanding the printout?
posted by JohnnyGunn at 9:30 PM on September 26, 2006

Donate the paper to a nearby childcare center for the kids' art projects. For added retaliatory fun, ask the childcare principal to send a thank-you note for the paper to your supervisor.
posted by tracicle at 10:12 PM on September 26, 2006

No snark intended, but if your company bought the paper, toner, and power for the printer at Office Depot bulk prices, your boss made an $8 mistake. If it were possible to calculate a disposal cost for a ream and half of office paper, I'd think it to be in range of cents, if one could, and the stuff is biodegradable. If you spend more than $4 recovering materials from it, it's good money after bad.

How much of your time does $4 buy? Probably not enough to spend cutting the paper into half sheets and binding it.
posted by paulsc at 10:16 PM on September 26, 2006

origami polyhedron! make a giant geodesic ball!
posted by wuzandfuzz at 10:18 PM on September 26, 2006

imagine how much confetti a hole puncher could create.
imagine how many hideaways the average office offers.

I see the sixth best office prank ever.
posted by krautland at 10:40 PM on September 26, 2006

Get some binding clips and attach it all togeher and write that great novel thats inside you.
posted by TheOtherGuy at 10:46 PM on September 26, 2006

It looks like you have kids. I spent pretty much my whole childhood drawing on the back of scrap paper my parents brought home from work. Since there was an endless supply of the stuff, I never cared that one side had stuff on it.

Now that we're older, they just chop the stuff up into fourths and use it as household notepaper.
posted by anjamu at 11:43 PM on September 26, 2006

Use it in the fax machine. If your fax machine is anything like in the offices I've worked at, most of the incoming faxes are junk anyway.
posted by zoinks at 12:37 AM on September 27, 2006

750+ paper cranes.
posted by kingjoeshmoe at 1:53 AM on September 27, 2006

Two words: Origami Orgy.
posted by dbiedny at 6:28 AM on September 27, 2006

pulp them. make "artisan papers" for use in personal correspondence.

essentially, you rip the paper, add interesting fibers if you want (flowers, thread), put in blender half filled with warm water. start at low speed, increasing to a high speed, blend until smooth.

dump about four blenderfulls into a tub, again half-filled with water. stir. then you have to mold the paper. if you want stiffer writing paper, you should add some laundry sizing to the mix.

you mold paper by strecthing windowscreening in a frame (a frame that fits over your tub). then you plop some pulp on the mold, smooth it out with your hands or a big sponge, let the water drip. peel it off, and lay it flat to dry.
posted by crush-onastick at 7:02 AM on September 27, 2006 [2 favorites]

I also recommend letting kids draw on it. I have fond memories of doing exactly that. You could also use it to play eat poop you cat. It's a hilarious game, and it uses a lot of paper quickly.
posted by benign at 7:09 AM on September 27, 2006

Leave the whole pile on your desk to use as scrap paper, particularly scrap paper that'll end up as notes all around the office. It'll be a monument to itself.

The other way is to just suck it up and realize that as long as you're working in a job where people can tell you to do stuff, they'll occasionally tell you to do stupid stuff, and it's not even really worth a second thought.
posted by Mr. Gunn at 7:23 AM on September 27, 2006

No snark intended, but if your company bought the paper, toner, and power for the printer at Office Depot bulk prices, your boss made an $8 mistake.

I guess if you want to reduce the mental and symbolic significance of everyday life to a narrow, materialist measure, that's one way of looking at it. In my opinion, the questioner is asking:

1. How do I express my resentment at being asked to do stupid, wasteful things by my boss, who ignored my good advice, and do it in a creative manner?

At that point you're not really talking about money any more, it's a self-respect issue.

I suggest paper sculptures used to decorate your work area.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/richardsweeney/sets/72057594105588057/
posted by mecran01 at 7:42 AM on September 27, 2006

Boring, and previously cited, but I use mis-prints in the office as scratch paper. I actually made up a template for the other side with a space for the date, and the top line says Message Note Reminder Task and so on, which I circle as I use.

I load the recycle paper into the printer and print my note format on the other side.

I usually do this printing of the other side when no one else in the office is around to send jobs to the printer.

Sometimes I take a stack home with me and use it for printing off story drafts of my writing. Now that we recycle paper, I hate to throw a clean, letter-sized sheet in the recycle bin. In the old days, paper would get all mucky in the regular garbage, and it never would have occurred to me to recycle it.

Also origami, but you have to cut it to a square, first.
posted by Savannah at 7:54 AM on September 27, 2006