Buying back-to-school supplies for kids or for your classroom is often like Christmas morning. It’s fun and full of shiny new things, but so many of the products are completely pointless to buy. First of all, you already have a thousand pens and pencils in your home. Secondly, plastic binders, rulers and other supplies are often thrown away and ignored for newer models, which is pointless in every way. Below are a few tips and tricks that can be used to green up back-to-school shopping, green up your children’s lunch box, and if you’re a teacher, green up your classroom as well.
Shopping for Supplies – Save Money and Encourage Your Kids to Reuse Items
Shop reused items. Resale shops and eBay often have back-to-school blowout sales and discounts for parents. You can buy reusable and gently used items such as lunch boxes, backpacks, new clothes and dorm supplies that are either brand new, barely used or just being passed down by a former parent who wants to get rid of clutter. These are some of the best places to find inexpensive back-to-school goods without spending a fortune or purchasing the same items for much more in the store. Plus, if your kid INSISTS on having supplies with characters on them that are hard to find in stores, it’s highly likely you’ll find that Teddy Ruxpin Trapper Keeper on eBay or in a resale shop. Someone has it.
Convince the kids/yourself to reuse items of their own. Seriously, why do kids need a new backpack each year? They don’t. Reuse the same one, or if you have several kids, talk them into swapping backpacks so they’re like new. Save the money for necessary items like notebooks and pencils. When purchasing those items, look for notebooks, pencils, folders, and binders that are made of 100% post consumer recycled materials.
Encourage your kids to make green efforts. You’ve probably assumed you have to “sneak” your kids into using green items, but why? Educating them at home about the environment and the importance of eco friendly items is a great way to encourage them to want to find and use recycled or reused items as well.
Green up the Lunchbox, Too
Use a Lunch Box. Some kids love lunch boxes, while others hate them. If your kid insists on having a lunch box, go for it. It’s significantly better than brown bagging it or giving them money to buy lunch at school (that alone will save you tons of money). There are plenty of lunch bags that have departments so you don’t have to use plastic bags to separate the food; just make sure to wash the bag regularly with an organic cleaner. If your kids are at the age where they’re “just too cool” for a lunch box, use biodegradable bags that are made of 100% recycled or biodegradable materials. Bags will state they are biodegradable within several days, weeks or months, and using those is significantly better than increasing the amount of trees cut down by using a paper bag each day (you can do this for yourself when packing a lunch for work, too).
Use reusable bottles. Instead of using juice boxes or bags, use a thermos or reusable water bottle to fill with water or their favorite drink. It’ll stay cool throughout the day much better than a flimsy lunch box.
For the Teachers – Greening up Your Classroom
Teachers, we certainly haven’t forgotten about you. When preparing your classroom for the hectic school year, you can focus on greening up the environment for the kids.
Use green cleaners. First of all, you’re probably keeping cleaners in there for messes and spills for when the janitor isn’t around. Use homemade or organic cleaners made with natural oils, vinegar, lemon, baking soda, borax and other chemical free ingredients. This keeps the environment safe and clean, and if kids have sensitive noses, it’ll prevent allergy or asthma attacks.
Keep a scrap paper and recycling bin available for students to throw old notes and paper scraps. They could come in handy for a project and encourage creativity even more than opening up a brand new package of construction paper.
Incorporate reusing items and recycling into your everyday projects and course work. Doing it in a fun way that doesn’t appear preachy or boring, such as in the midst of a fun project, is a great way to help students learn the importance of using scrap materials rather than using something new every single time. Encourage them to use an extra bump of creativity to come up with ways in which they can use less paper and recycle used items.
If your school doesn’t have a recycling program, see if your classroom can do something to encourage the rest of the school to start recycling as well. Start a movement with your classroom and get them to do a presentation to each classroom that will encourage them to recycle and start reusing paper and other products.
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