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For many local Monterey County students, back-to-school
means a trip to the mall to purchase supplies to start school: notebooks,
paper, writing utensils, backpacks, clothing and more. Anything to guarantee
your child’s academic success.
Over the years, back-to-school shopping has almost achieved the expenditures
of holiday shopping. But with increased spending and consumption comes
a heavy toll on the environment.
According to Co-op America, a nonprofit organization that provides strategies
to address social and environmental problems, a fourth of the population
considers environmentally friendly products when making purchases. Just
as the idea of recycled products being dingy and gray is no longer true,
nor are recycled products limited to paper products. Earth-friendly products
can also apply to clothing, backpacks, pencils and rulers.
Environmentally friendly products are increasing which means parents and
children have more choices when shopping for school supplies. Increased
availability on the Internet means shoppers can skip that trip to the
mall. One such site is WoodWise, a program of Co-op America that enables
students and parents to purchase forest-friendly consumer goods.
Paper products include loose-leaf paper, spiral notebooks, marbled composition
books, computer paper, notepads, folders, daily planners and calendars
with high recycled content. Students can even choose tree-free paper products,
which are created from raw materials other than trees, such as denim scraps,
sugar cane and kenaf, a fast-growing fiber crop. Other products include
three-ring binders, and pens and pencils made of 100% post-consumer materials.
Other on-line shopping options are Fiber Options, The Real Earth and Green
Earth Office Supply.
Elementary students might like to fill their backpacks with some
of the following items:
- “Cardboard Binder” made from 100% corrugated material that says “recycle” with style”.
- Forest-friendly pencils made from 100% recycled cardboard and newspaper.
- Ruler made of 70% post-consumer plastic.
- Crayons made of soybeans.
Teenagers may prefer:
- Refillable pens made from white birch scraps
- Spiral notebooks made from recycled paper
- A backpack, purse, shoulder bag or CD case made from hemp, a sturdy industrial fiber that replaces nylon, which is made with chemicals and contributes to global warming.
Here are a few Earth-friendly suggestions for going back to school:
- Look at the label. Choose items with high post-consumer recycled content. When buying clothes, avoid rayon, acetate or triacetate, which are made from tree fiber.
- Choose to reuse. Schools offer numerous opportunities for reuse. For example, paper a from a half-used spiral notebook can be salvaged, punched with a three-hole punch and added to a notebook.
- Pack lunches in reusable plastic ware instead of disposable plastic bags and wraps, use cloth napkins instead of paper and lunch boxes instead of paper bags.
- Keep recycling. Once school starts, students often produce large volumes of paperwork. Remember that recycling doesn’t always mean the material goes directly to the recycling bin. For example, a child’s paintings and drawings can make attractive wrapping paper; kids can transform shipping boxes into toy trains, storage boxes or other play structures; and teachers can use old magazines, toilet paper rolls and cardboard egg cartons for art projects.
- Ask your teacher and principal to incorporate environmental education into the curriculum.
- Support businesses that stock forest-friendly back-to-school supplies.
Just as parents and children become earth-friendly consumers, teachers and principals can work to make the entire school environmentally wise with steps like these:
- Use e-mail instead of paper memos to reduce paper use. But don’t print them to read!
- Set the default switch on your photocopier to double-sided, or post a friendly reminder by the copy machine.
- Post or circulate materials rather than making an individual copy for each person.
- Share training manuals and internal documents.
- Place large documents, such as information about insurance plans, on internal Web sites.
- Invest in a double-sided laser printer.
- Eliminate printer and fax cover sheets. If a cover note is needed, use a reduced-size memo that can be attached to the cover page.
- Purchase copy paper and other paper supplies with at least 50% post-consumer recycled or tree-free content.
- Take outdated letterhead or other stationery to your local quick copy who will cut the paper into smaller pieces and glue the ends to make notepads.
- Start a committee to save paper and your school’s money.
- Teachers can promote good earth-friendly habits in the classroom by encouraging students to write or draw on both sides of their paper; by reusing materials with paper content, such as magazines and cardboard boxes; and by choosing reusable materials instead of disposable ones.
REMEMBER, IT’S EVERYONES’ RESPONSIBILITY
TO PROTECT THE ENVIRONMENT
Kurt Hunter
Recycling/Hazardous Materials Specialist