Volunteer Leads Paper Recycling Effort

Interior designer Judy Dearden of Highland Heights discovered a new calling as a volunteer with a paper recycling project.

Every Thursday, she leads a group recycling paper products for the Tri-City Consortium on Aging at the South Euclid Community Center.

"I found the whole time that paper is my element," Dearden said.

Therese Grida, Tri-City program and nutrition coordinator, formed the group to try and salvage some use out of paper products that were being discarded.

"A couple of years ago, seeing all the paper waste, I got the idea to try and put a group together for paper recycling. I put a few fliers up at the Highland Heights Community Center. Her husband saw one, gave it to her, and she called to volunteer," Grida said.

Volunteers shred old toilet paper rolls, fliers, paper napkins, Sweet'N Low packets and other items that would otherwise become trash. The shredded paper is placed in a blender with water to create a sort of paste that is used to create new sheets of paper.

"We put it back into the pulp stage that paper started in," Dearden said.

That paper is then used to make cards, envelopes, gift tags, seed packets, bookmarks and other products sold to raise money for the Tri-City Consortium.

"These would be really nice for wedding envelopes when you just send money," Dearden said of the cards they design, decorate and sell for $6 each. "Because it's a one-of-a-kind thing. You buy a greeting card, you could pay $5 or more. These are unique."

Another benefit is that they're made from recycled paper. As leader of the Highland Heights Green Task Force, Dearden is committed to environmentally friendly living.

"I really think that if I can be part of helping less go to the landfill, it's a good thing," she said.

The group is limited by not having a space to store materials and sheets of paper that are drying. Grida and Dearden said they'd like to find a place that would donate a space where they can work and keep everything there instead of packing up after every session.

"We're looking for donated workspace," Grida said. "We can't grow right now."

When it comes to growth, Dearden has plenty of ideas for the future, including selling the group's paper products at places such as the Cleveland Botanical Garden and bringing in professional artists who would volunteer their skills to design cards.

"We're kind of missing that one other step in having finishing artists," she said. "We would love for some real artists to work with us."