How to Recycle Magazines: Eco-Friendly Ideas to Donate, Reuse & Recycle Magazines

Give them away

Offer old magazines to friends, relatives and neighbors. Pass them to friends and relatives on a regular basis so that they won’t accumulate. Make it a rule to read a magazine and pass it on.

Put them in waiting rooms

Ask you physician, dentist or local hospital staff if you could bring in some magazines to place in their waiting rooms for others to read. Most will eagerly welcome the reading material.

Send them to school

You can give old magazines to schools for use in art and other projects. School projects often consist of cutting pictures out of magazines so recycle them and let your old magazines be put to good use.

Donate

Donate your old magazines to local thrift shops, the Salvation Army or Goodwill. Gather together other unused items as well. In many areas they will even come and pick them up.

Frame Photos

Tear beautiful landscape photos out of magazines, frame them and hang them on the wall.

Book Covers

You can use magazine pages as book covers for kids. If the pages don’t quite fit, cover the books first with brown paper bags or leftover wrapping paper turned on the white side then let your child cut photos out of magazines and past them on the book cover.

Wrapping Paper

You can also use old magazines to wrap small gifts for birthdays or holidays. It’s a unique way to wrap a gift. You can use the pages of a culinary magazine to wrap a food gift such as a box of candy or a cheese sampler package. Use a children’s magazine to wrap a child’s gift or a beauty magazine to wrap a gift of perfume. Top it off with a pretty bow or ribbon.

Moving

If you’re moving or know someone who is help them wrap glassware, crystal figurines and other items with those leftover piles of magazines. Use them to line boxes and place pages or even a whole magazine between picture frames to prevent breakage.