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Is it that time again already?! Wow….summer flies right by and before you know it… it is time to think about sending your kids back to school. The local stores put out huge displays of Crayola crayons, pencil boxes, and backpacks. Parents and kids wander around with printed lists showing all of the supplies their teachers have requested for the year. In addition to the dent in parents’ wallets, there are environmental and social costs involved in all this school-related spending too. Well, I got to wondering what options there were for more sustainable, low impact, or eco friendly school supplies and I decided to compile a list of the cool green school supplies I found. Enjoy!
Eco Friendly Pencils and Crayons
Pineapple Flavored - Recyced Pencils - These are a truly great find. They are scented pencils made from 100% recycled newspapers. They sharpen and write like regular pencils but smell better and they save trees. Just one simple way to go green….
scents: bubblegum, cherry, rootbeer, grape, peppermint, watermelon, pineapple, orange, fruit punch.
Soybean Crayons - environmentally friendly Prang soybean crayons
Green Notebooks and Paper - Nearly half the trees currently harvested are used to make paper!
Tree Free Notebooks - a sustainable substitute source for paper-making fiber. The growing demand for paper made with kenaf, a fibrous plant from the Mallow family that’s related to cotton and okra, has made it an increasingly viable alternative economically. Put simply, Kenaf offers a way to make paper without cutting trees, and the company’s goal is to increase the amount of kenaf fiber in Boku Books to 100% before long.
Elephant Poop Paper! - Yes this paper is made from elephant dung. In Sri Lanka, many elephants have been killed not for their meat, tusks, or hide but simply because they interfere with local agribusiness. A solution for villagers AND elephants alike has been to find ways to utilize the elephant as a sustainable economic resource. Since elephants poop about 16 times a day (wow!), elephant dung is a resource with the potential to solve the farmer/pachyderm conflict. Brought to you through Ellie Pooh, a socially conscious business in Sri Lanka.
Both of the above products are Fair Trade items as well.
Eco Friendly Backpacks
Solar Powered Backpack - This stylish and smart backpack is the first in a line of backpacks with an integrated solar charging solution. Perfect for the student, mobile commuter, and outdoorsman, this backpack provides a quality pack with an integrated solar charging module for your high-tech toys. If your child has a cell phone or iPod then they might really like this backpack.
EarthPak - The backpack made from recycled plastic soda bottles. They also have duffel bags, sports bags, computer bags, and fanny packs.
Hemp Sisters Packpack - Backpacks made from sustainable hemp and they are attractive too!
Basura Coin Purse -This is perfect for holding lunch money and they are made from recycled juice containers.
Basura Messenger Bag - For the eco-stylish this messenger bag made from juice containers is the perfect fit.
Eco Friendly Clothing - Sustainable duds that make a REAL statement
Rawganique’s line of eco clothing for kids is made from certified US cotton.
Maggie’s Functinal Organics uses organic cotton, wool, and hemp.
Eco Friendly Lunch Boxes and Water Bottles
The Laptop Lunchbox - The ultimate lunchbox and my personal favorite. It is an American style bento box that promotes waste free lunches. This lunchbox helps me pack healthy and environmentally friendly meals for my son. Read our review here.
And while we are on the subject of lunch boxes I must recommend Mabel’s Labels. I have some for all three kids and I put some on their lunch boxes. They withstand the dishwasher, microwave, UV Rays and hard wearing children. And you can out them on more than lunch boxes. You can put them on cups, bottles, backpacks…you name it.
Mr. Bento - Yes, another bento box…but this one is more appealing to older kids. It is a stylish stainless steel lined, thermos style lunchbox. There is one designed for boys and one for girls.
Klean Kanteen - Another one of my personal favorites! These stainless steel water bottles do not leach chemicals into your water like plastic ones do and they are a much more sustainable option. They come in many different sizes and with different choices.
Sigg Reusable Water Bottles - These aluminum water bottles are attractive to younger kids.
Wrap-N-Mat - These reusable sandwich bags are perfect for wrapping your food so that you no longer need to use plastic bags. This cuts down on needless landfill waste.
Miscellaneous School Supplies:
KleenEarth Recycled Stainless Steel Scissors
Read part two of this installment!
Technorati Tags: school days, back to school, eco friendly, green living, lunchbox, backpack, kids, children
Eco Friendly School Days…
Options for more sustainable, low impact, or eco friendly school supplies….
[...] Washko presents Eco Friendly School Days posted at Natural Family Living [...]
Crack me up over the elephant paper! And those smencils look pretty neat - I was just thinking today about our numerous wood pencils.
Here’s my link! http://stretchmarkmama.blogspot.com/2007/08/poo-poo-paper.html
[...] may have seen my mention of this great product in the Eco Friendly School Days blog post. I love this company so much that I thought they deserved a even bigger mention. Quite [...]
Okay Lisa! You are the winner…I will contact you about collecting your prizes!
Doing it Differently Blog Carnival, 9th Edition…
Welcome to the 9th edition of the Doing it Differently Blog Carnival!
This carnival is dedicated to the concept of stepping outside of the box and living our lives in ways beyond the "norm"!
Whether you want to learn unique ways to think or a…
Another green item to consider is the new green student planner by Success By Design. It is not only made of recycled products and uses soy ink, they are also setting up a program to recycle the planners at the end of the school year. Since planners have over 100 pages typically it is great to see a company that is creating this product and is wanting to be a part of the recyling of the thousands of these that are sold each year. I applaud them for their efforts!
I found the recycled student planners at http://www.successbydesign.com/prod-tgp.htm. The company will even let schools and students return the books to them to have them recycled again at the end of the school year. What a great learning experience for children. They can use the planner all year and then participate in its recycling at the end!
Where do you find all these great things?! Thank you, thank you. They all make great grandparent gifts.
I can vouch for the Smencils. We have the BubbleGum ones and YUM YUM YUM. The only problem is, it’s hard to get your work done when you keep smelling your pencil!
Ours are about a year old and haven’t lost their scent yet!
it is just wondreful and useful. but you still need to add more like what activities should be done by the students ,their duties,etc
There’s a new kid on the block when it comes to no-waste lunches…. I’m an eco-mom who has started my own green company http://www.ecolunchboxes.com. You might want to check out my cotton, machine washable, very durable lunchbags that convert to backpacks. Great for kids 3 to 103 and they come with matching napkins, a stainless steel food box and a bamboo spork. Our ECOlunchbox Kit is 100% plastic-free, waste free, lead-free, BPA-free, PVC-free and vinyl-free.
Here is another ecofriendly product called the Greenciles. Check out http://www.greenciles.com Pencils made from recycled newspaper.
Great blog. Just discovered it! Love the ideas for green school supplies.
woo hoo lets go green lol
woo hoo lets go green lol yah dig
I have been trying to go more and more green. It is great that there are a lot more companies that are going this way. It does seen to cost more to save the environment, but don’t you think it is worth it?
If you are looking for an eco and easy way to pack healthy lunches for your kids, check out http://www.PlanetBox.com. Made out of high quality stainless steel, its the safe, non-toxic alternative to plastic. With separate food compartments and hip magnet accessories, its custom designed for both kids and parents alike. Not your old-fashioned metal lunch box, PlanetBox delivers lunch transportation for the green generation!