The Problem
Number of people participating 6
Number of hours spent 40
Number of people served 46
We usually have dinner on Friday at our local deli and stay till late. I had noticed an employee giving his boss an envelope at the end of his shift. Apparently every employee gave the manager an envelope at the end of every shift. It is always a fresh new envelope with the waiters’ name, date and time on it. My friends and I agreed that this was a colossal waste of paper. We discussed reusing the envelope or buying Multiuse manila envelopes, but since the envelopes had cash in them, they were skeptical. We decided to refurbish the envelopes instead
Our Plan
Materials
Envelopes
White out – liquid works better
Craft glue, Scissors, stapler
stickers
We collected envelopes from our community and the above mentioned deli. We promised that for every 3 envelops they gave us, we would give them 1 refurbished envelope.
We then collected and sorted all the envelopes and graded them (A through E) according to degree of wear.
A) Sure – easy to refurbish
B) Reuse – It will require some work, but we can do it
C) Challenge – We will have to use some imagination
D) Reinvent – we think of another way to use this envelope. Reincarnate – A totally different use
E) Recycle – the envelope is in bad shape (oil stained, torn, beyond repair) and will have to be recycled
RESULTS
A- 7 envelopes were clean and not even written on
B- 124 envelopes had 5-10 words written on them, either in the center or on the top right corner. We used “white out” to cover the writing. The envelopes were allowed to dry and then we reinspected them to make sure all the writing was covered and the white out wouldn’t flake off.
C- For 31 envelopes, we found old colorful paper, we asked our friends and teachers to donate stickers and we used our imagination to make beautiful envelopes. When we make cards for another project, we will use these envelopes.
D- For 32 envelopes, we used them for bands, scratch paper and party decorations. We made smaller envelopes from them and plan to use them for another project. Reincarnate - we will make nautical flags for another project
E- 6 envelopes were sent to recycle
WE LEARNT
Recycling and how a little time and a tiny amount of effort can help keep our planet earth green.
It gave us an opportunity to spread the world about reuse to our friends at the local deli. Since they got envelopes back to reuse, they believed us.
On a personal note, my brother and I also got to spend some time with our grandfather . We involved him in this project . He was very funny – we were all in stiches!
