8 Eco-friendly Back-to-School Swaps
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Summer always flies by, and it’s time to think about going back to school again! I loved shopping for school supplies as a child and seeing what sparkly, crisp folder or notebook I’d get for school that year. I never considered the sustainability behind my purchases then, but now I see the opportunity to purchase eco-friendly school supplies as a vote for sustainability! Want to vote green too? Check out these 8 eco-friendly back to school swaps!
Recycled Material Note: Recycling is a buzzword right now as a growing number of companies are showcasing recycled material as sustainability within their products. Unfortunately, if you dig deeper into the idea of recycling it’s not as sustainable as we’d hope. Why?
Recycling relies on a complicated web of players acting in sync to be truly successful. This includes product designers designing for recyclability, consumers buying their products and properly disposing of them, waste disposal companies properly recycling them, and finally getting the recycled material back to the designers all while making money for businesses involved with this cycle. Sadly, our current system has many holes in this web such as only 9% of plastic actually gets recycled according to a National Geographic article.
Recycling requires additional energy to create new products versus reusing an original product for a new purpose.
In summary, recycling is a part of the zero-waste solution, but the best things we can do first is to refuse, reduce, and reuse. Thus, I prioritize products in this blog post which repurpose waste products and are made to last with high-quality virgin material instead of recycled ones. You will still find recycled products on this list as this is the best you can do with many school supplies currently, but even within this category I looked for easily recyclable, simple designs.
Pens
Do you have a whole drawer of free pens collected from various events? It’s tempting to throw these out but do your best to use these up first before buying sustainable ones. This also includes refusing ones offered to you in the future which is a sustainability tip; refuse what you don’t use. 😊
When you’re ready to buy a sustainable option, my favorite find is the Seltzer Seven Year pen. The company did research to see how long their pens last and found by writing 1-2 meters (3-6 feet) a day, 365 days a year, their pens last…you guessed it seven years! After seven years, you can buy an affordable refill to keep your pen going. The only downfall is the casing is plastic, but I think the positives outweigh the negatives for this pen. I also love their fun prints and colors which your kids will probably like too!
An alternative option is coffee bean refillable pens from Onyx and Green.
2. Pencils
There are a few fun options for sustainable pencils! If you’d like to go the recycled route, Amazon has a selection of recycled newspaper pencils. I recommend getting ones without an eraser, so you can buy a separate eraser which will last through years of pencils. For a sustainable eraser option, check out Alder and Alouette which sells a natural rubber eraser made by L&C Hardtmuth who has been making erasers since 1896. Erasers are commonly made from synthetic rubber or plastic materials, who knew?
Sprout has become famous for their plantable pencils where you plant the pencil stub at the end of its life. They have an impressive number of plants and flowers you can choose from as well as a customization option where you can even put a special message on your pencils. 😊
Another option is Wisdom Supply Co.’s pencils which emphasize how they are unpainted and made with sustainably forested wood in the USA. Painted pencils are made with, you guessed it…plastic! This plastic coating degrades into micro-plastic which goes into our environment or knowing how kids operate…into their mouth.
I’m a fan of mechanical pencils as you don’t use as much material throughout the life of the pencil. I’ve been writing with Onyx and Green’s bamboo and aluminum mechanical pencil going on 5 years now, and it’s worked well for me.
3. Pencil Cases
Need a place to store those sustainable pencils and pens? Pencil cases have a number of creative swaps instead of plastic including tin, linen, DIY, and even cork! You can buy a linen one from Alder and Alouette which is a more sustainable fabric than cotton as it uses less water and chemicals to grow and process flax.
There are a few options for sustainably made cotton pencil cases like Firiri and Terra Threads. Firiri cases are hand-woven by women in Nepal, and the company focuses on empowering their lives for better through education and skill development training.
Cork Culture on Etsy sells a pencil case made in Portugal out of recycled cork!
Don’t forget, you can even make your own DIY pencil case with a zipper, scrap fabric pieces, and beginner’s sewing skills. Watch a tutorial by Amy Family DIY here!
4. Art Supplies
Colored pencils last for years, but if you’re looking to buy new ones consider recycled newspapers ones from Onyx & Green or these unpainted ones made from FSC-certified sustainable wood from Stubby Pencil Studio. There are also these unique twig pencils from Ready. Set. Wonder. shop on Etsy. They are made using branches from tamarind or mango trees in SE Asia!
For crayons, try to avoid brands made from petroleum-based ingredients and instead consider cute, beeswax ones like these from Honeysticks. These crayons even come in different sizes depending on what works best for the size of your child’s hands.
There are crayon rocks perfect for little hands from Stubby Pencil Studio which come in a variety of packs and colors.
I also learned about the National Crayon Recycle Program which has been around since 1993 recycling crayons through the company Crazy Crayons. I mentioned I don’t usually highlight recycled products, but this initiative and their crayons are too cool to not include. It’s amazing to see the impact they’ve made with this program and just look at this dinosaur recycled crayon gift set…it’s so fun!
For other various art supplies you may need, check out this blog post from SustainablyChic.
5. Lunch Bag & Supplies
It’s time for lunch! You can imagine all the sustainable swaps you can make for this part of the school day. Check out Etsy for vintage metal lunch boxes or there are a variety of sustainably made cotton options. A Little Lark on Etsy makes pretty canvas lunch bags from recycled cotton fabric in Portland, Oregon, and Italic makes their simple lunch bag with a waterproof lining made from beeswax and paraffin wax instead of plastic. They’re also based in Portland and offer a non-waxed bag option as well.
My favorite lunch bag is Life Without Plastic’s organic cotton and wool lunch bag which you can even wash in the laudry machine after taking out its wool panels!
Don’t forget to think about sustainability inside your lunch box and invest in silicone sandwich bags like these ones from Stashers or stainless-steel food containers. I’ve been using To-Go-Ware for many years, but ECOlunchbox and PlanetBox are solid options too.
Beeswax wraps are great to wrap snacks and fruit in, and I’m a big fan of Jenny Joy Soap’s wraps as the beeswax and pine resin used to make the wraps comes right off her homestead in Arizona.
I have to mention the classic swap of stainless-steel water bottles instead of pesky plastic water bottles. I used my first S’well water bottle for 7 years, but Kleen Kanteen is another solid option.
For cutlery, pack a set from home or you can buy a reusable set specifically for packed lunches. I’m personally not a big fan of the mouth feel of bamboo, so I would recommend this stainless-steel set from Me Mother Earth. Use coupon code DOWNTOEARTH10 to save 10% on any sustainable Me Mother Earth products!
6. Backpacks
Wow, did I find a lot of creatively made sustainable backpacks! Material is key for sustainable backpacks as you want a fabric not made with resource-intensive materials but still holds up to the grind of school and life. First off, we have hemp which needs less water and chemicals than cotton but still provides a high-quality, waterproof material. 8000Kicks has a great Everyday backpack, but it is on the expensive side.
Second, we have Green Guru who upcycles materials to make their backpacks in Boulder, Colorado. The sky’s the limit for their creativity as they put upcycled bicycle innertubes, charcoal denim, and even scraps of street signs in their products like the Joyride Roll Top backpack.
Fourth and final, if you’d like a classic cotton backpack, Terra Thread would be the way to go with their variety of well-priced, GOTS-certified cotton backpacks.
7. Notebooks
Imagine all the notebooks bought in an average school year across the US…we ‘tree’ly have something to discuss. 😊 It’s tempting to use a notebook for only one class, but I would encourage you and your kids to fill the entirety of a notebook before buying a new one. You can even use scrap paper to make a new notebook; see a tutorial by one of my favorite zero-waste influencers here!
For a sustainable paper option, check out Decomposition’s notebooks which are made with 100% post-consumer-waste (PCW) and soy ink in the USA! They have a bunch of fun prints and designs which I like too.
An alternative to traditional paper notebooks is this Onyx and Green notebook made from sugar cane pulp. There is also the Rocketbook which gives the feel of taking notes, but you can upload your notes to a PDF and wipe the notebook clean after you’re done with class.
Note on Stone Paper: A current trending “sustainable” material is stone paper. Made with crushed stone from construction waste, I initially thought stone paper was a fantastic sustainable material to replace paper. Then I found out HDPE plastic is used as a binder for the pages. The stone paper company, Karst, claims the paper can be recycled as #2 plastic, but if you have single-stream recycling like I do it would get mixed in with the paper at the recycling facility anyway. In summary, I don’t recommend stone paper at this time as a sustainable alternative to paper, because it includes plastic and is not fit for recycling.
8. Planner
When it comes to sustainable planners, your first thought may be an online planner like Google Calendar. This is a fantastic option, but I prefer being on my phone as little as possible, so I still use a physical planner. 😊 I currently use a Cambridge Green Path planner I found at Target which is made with 100% post-consumer-waste (PCW) paper and vegetable inks. You can recycle or compost it at the end of its life which I’m excited to try!
Another sustainable option is Wisdom Supply Co.’s planners which are completely recyclable at the end of their life and manufactured in the USA with 100% recycled paper. They offer a variety of options including planners for teachers, undated and dated weekly student planners, and even PDF printable planners, so you can print just what you need. Neat!
A local business in central Iowa, Linda Tong Planners, implements sustainability by offering imperfect planners for a lower price. The imperfections could be outer damage, missing pages, or mixed-up pages which happened during the manufacturing process.
There you go, 8 eco-friendly swaps for going back to school! Parents are the first teachers of their children, so being intentional about what you buy for school supplies is a great lesson for your kids. There may be more limited options within sustainable products, but this also teaches your children simplicity and not to be as attached to material things. Praying for a happy, healthy, and greener school year for you!
Please share this post with others who are thinking about back-to-school supplies, so we can inspire more sustainable change together! You can also download and share my FREE infographic of this blog post below from my Sustainability Shop!
