Recently attention has been paid to recycled paper and demand for its use has increased because its use plays a vital role in the preservation of our natural environment. In this paper optical characteristics of the recycled substrates, printed by conventional offset technique, exposed to the natural and accelerated ageing has been examined. The both types of examinations show changes in the reflectance measurements and in the chosen colorimetric values. These results are discussed and compared to the same type of our measurements made on fine art and offset surfaces.