The Back-to-School ritual that happens ever fall is one of those tides of consumption that periodically sweeps over us in our lives. We can easily avoid the pit fall of clothing right now as our son is still young and having new trendy things is not important to him. We are very proud of our little guy who gladly accepts cast-offs and thrift store clothes. This may change when he gets nearer to his teenage years.
Finding school supplies is more tricky. Many school supplies are consumed as they are used and therefore finding used items is hard. Likely impossible on the scaled required by 55 million school kids every fall. One of our current projects has been trying to eco-ize this process in our local community. It seems to me that buying all of this semi-toxic stuff that releases more toxins into the world that our children are going to have to inhabit in their future is a short sighted education.
The best answer is to take care of things so they last, look though your drawers at home to see what you might be able to pull together and teach your children to be responsible with their things. Understanding that this will not full fill all needs, we have assembled this list of best products focused mostly on consumable items. We hope that you will buy second hand or find creative ways to reuse things like back packs, lunch boxes & clothing.
We are also working on a page of places to shop for supplies.
Ballpoint Pens: The best recycled pens seem to be offered by swag companies. If you arnt interested in buying pens 500 at a time, there are still some options. Stubby Pencil Studio carries a pen equal to the best swag pens. Its retractable and refillable and made from all recycled materials, most post-consumer & biodegrable. They cost $1.50 each. Pilot G2B BeGreen is 89.9% post consumer plastics and is refillable and retractable. It come in red, black and blue but can be tricky to find and more expensive at around $1.99. The Zebra Eco pen is made from 75%-81% post consumer materials and is retractable and refillable. Its price is more in line with its credentials at around $1.20 each. I have included a 4th option because the Zebra and G2B are hard to find in red. Pentel RSVP contains 59% recycled plastic and is very easy to find, in fact, you may already own some.
Colored Pencils: The broadest choices were in this category. Forest Choice Forest Stewardships Council Certified California Cedar pencils. Box of 12 for $5.00 plus shipping. Or O'bonza 100% recycled newspaper pencils box of 12 for $4.00-6.00 plus shipping. The O'bonza come in scented or unscented pencils. O'bon is based in South San Francisco so they are local. Personally Im leaning towards the up-cycled newspaper pencils. For some unknown reason, colored pencils have one of the highest price difference between the eco and standard versions (other than glue). These pencils are about twice the price of Crayola colored pencils. We rejected the bamboo colored pencils based on the fact that bamboo forests are currently being depleted to keep up with the demand for flooring. We feel that flooring is a better use for bamboo than pencils which are destroyed as they are used. Now if someone were to make pencils out of used bamboo flooring, that would be something.
Construction Paper: This product was very hard to track down. I check over lots of different sites and comparing the information available on each, I think I have a winner. Pacon/Riverside Super Heavy Weight Construction paper 9 x 12, 76 lbs. Acid free and 100% recycled content. Price is $2.39 plus shipping for 50 sheets. I couldnt find any construction paper that guaranteed any post consumer content. I recently found another option. Cascade/Rolland Enviro100 comes in a 100 lbs paper designed for cover sheets. Its 8.5 x 11 and costs around $8.46 for 125 sheets. If you compare the reem prices, the Cascade/Rolland paper is much more expensive, but if you look at it in terms of cost per sheet, its an extra 2 cents. All the papers in the Enviro100 line are all 100% post-consumer waist and chlorine free.
Copy Paper: There are many options here. Office Max and Staples both offer 100% post-consumer recycled papers. My two favorites sources are Treecycle.com & Xpedx. Price varies between $6.99 and $9.98 depending on the amount ordered but costs some what less than comparable paper from Staples. If you are concerned about dioxin then look for a chlorine free paper. Grays harbor and Cascade both make papers that are 100% post consumer fiber that are chlorine free & acid free. In addition to the above, GraysHarbor 100 is produced with 100% renewable energy.
Crayons: For fat crayons for smaller children, Crazy Crayons are an interesting option. They are made from 100% post consumer crayon stubs. They have no paper wrapper and look like they will take a fair amount of abuse. Price is $7.95 plus shipping for a pack of 18 colors. Made in the USA. If petrochemicals are you pet peeve, you can buy soy crayons made by Prang for $1.00 plus shipping. You can also make your own recycled crayons with a metal mold much like making candles. Search the internet for safety instructions however. Working with wax can be dangerous.
Dry Erase Markers: I hate these things. They contain a suite of nasty solvents and chemicals. I personally cannot be in the same room with a white board. The old chalk boards may have made me sneeze once in a while but I still prefer them. According to Auspen's website, 40,000,000 white board markers thrown out every year! EEPS! Thats a lot of poly-chemical-petro-crap in our landfills and water systems. Auspen is the only and clear winner when it comes to dry ease makers. They are made from recycled aluminum, have replaceable nibs, are refillable, recyclable and dont contain any nasty solvents. Weather or not they are expensive depends on your point of view. The initial cost is high ($29.95 for a pack of six) however if you use them a lot and manage not to loose them then like most quality products they will save money in the long run. I bought a set for my husband for father's day and he likes them bunches.
Erasers: Fact #1. There is no such things as a pencil top eraser with any sort of eco-credentials. #2, Pencil top erasers never last anyway. There is a great option for a hand held eraser however. Made by Humans makes a line of Eco Erasers that contain 50% post consumer recycled rubber and 50% recycled rubber. They are sold for 85 cents each plus shipping or a box of 48 for $23.95 coming to about 50 cents each plus shipping. We recently received our box of erasers and couldnt be more pleased. They look very cool (very different from the web picture) and erase great! Another option is a kneadable rubber eraser. The nice thing about them is they are not consumed as they are used. Koh-I-Noor makes a kneadable eraser from natural rubber but its expensive and imported.
Facial tissue: Almost every class at my son's school requests a box of facial tissue. Now it would be most grand if we could provide these kids with handkerchiefs but I dont think that I would get any one else to go along with me on this. I am recommending 7th Generation facial tissues. They come in a box of 175 count (larger than average so it saves on packaging) 80% post consumer content 100% recycled and non-chlorine bleach. Im planning on purchasing these though Rainbow Grocery so our school will receive 10% back on the purchase. Estimated price: $2.39 per box.
Glue Stick: Good old Elmer's glue stick. Good old Elmer's glue stick is made of "synthetic polymers" according to their website. Im not sure if thats any better than making glue out of hooves. Coccoina is made out of natural things you would find to eat in your pantry. Its been around for a long time, is free from acid, chemicals and synthetic polymers. The only down side is that its imported from Italy. Price varies depending on size and availability. If you are in Atlanta or Charlotte, you can go to Binders and buy them. They also sell online for $2.89 each. If you want to buy them by the box, best price is from Amazon. We have tried these out and they work great! They do not bleed thought the paper and stick just as well as Elmer's and they smell great. Be aware that Cocconia also makes other types of glue that are less eco-friendly.
High Lighters: I had a high lighter I really loved in college. It had replaceable ink cartridges and a few times I fell asleep and left it uncapped I took out the cartridge and soaked the nib in a glass of water and the thing was as good as new. I was sad when they stopped making it. Now Pentel has something similar. The housing is made from 50% post consumer plastic. The ink is non-toxic and the pen is refillable. They come in a 4 pack of either yellow or four different colors. The price is very reasonable at $4.99 per pack.
Index Card: I only found 1 product that offered any sort of eco-credentials. Roaring Springs makes a index card with 30% post consumer content. Thankfully the price is quite competitive at 89 cents plus shipping per pack of 100.
Ye Old #2 Pencil: We started off with a few different products. At the time Im writing this, I already have a clear winner. I investigated both pencils made from recycled tires and recycled newspaper pencils. Terracycle used to make a recycled newspaper pencil with a great price but they have discontinued it. Recently the updated their web page so perhaps its going to make a return but at what price is uncertain. O'bon also makes a recycled newspaper pencil, but their product is pricey which is more bearable in a colored pencil than in a writing pencil. The recycled tires pencils stink when sharpened, are annoying because they are black with black graphite so you cannot tell what is going on when you sharpen them. They also gummed up my pencil sharpener and cannot be used with electric sharpeners. As you can tell I didnt like them. Since O'bon is expensive and Terracycle is gone, I ordered a few newspaper wrapped pencil from National Pen and have found them to be very good. They are an inexpensive, good quality pencil newspaper pencil that behaves just as it should. Cost will depend on quantity but is estimated at 30 cents each plus shipping. If you want to order recycled newspaper pencils in smaller quantities, try TreeSmart pencils at $8.00 per two dozen. The TreeSmart pencils were not a well made as the ones from National Pen and more expensive.
The Pencil Box: We were lucky enough to find a 99 cent pencil box at our local thrift store just a few weeks before a few weeks before school! That is never going to happen again. What I have been able to come up for online for pencil boxes is rather sad. I did find this pencil box made of recycled plastic but they are too small to hold all the fat markers and other supplies needed by young children. My recommendation is to find an old cigar box or look at Terracycle.net. If you can order large qualities (100 or more), then there is a 100% recycled post industrial content option here. You can also make your own pencil box out of used Tetrapaks. Very cool!
Hand held pencil sharpener: From our friends at Stubby Pencil Studio we love the Kum carton sharpener. Its wood, has replaceable blades and comes in a recycled cardboard sleeve. Its considerably more expensive than a cheep plastic sharpener but its worth it. A good pencil sharpener will stay with you for a long time.
Erasable Pens: Pilot makes a line of thermal ink pens called Frixion. They are a gel ink pen that is turned invisible by the friction caused by rubbing an eraser over it. It is possible to turn your writing invisible by exposing to excessive heat. Since the ink is still there is can be restored by placing the paper in the freezer. Im concerned about the volatility of the ink and the limited eco-credentials. The housing is made from 76% recycled plastic. Post consumer content unknown. Best price is about $1.50 each plus shipping. They are available at Walgreens in a 2 pack for $4.49. We purchased a set and they seem worked o.k. but the writing faded in the sun. Our advice is that if you want something erasable, use a pencil.
Rulers: There were lots of recycled option for rulers. Most of them from marketing companies where you can buy 500 or more with your company logo printed on the ruler. An example of a good swag ruler is found here. I only found 1 that I though was really practical for our school made by Westcott. Westcott also sells under the Acme brand. Some of the web sites claim 70% recycled content and some claim 70% post consumer content or minimum 30% post consumer content. Priced as low as 59 cents each plus shipping. Comes in recycled packaging.
Scissors: For safety scissors and intermediate scissors we are going with Westcott Kleenearth. The handles are made from 30% post consumer plastic, 70% recycled content. Information varies from web site to site but the blade appear to recycled stainless steel. We have purchased a pair for our home and they very nice. Price varies with size. I had been going with Fiskars, but the information on recycled content is inconsistent from one site to another. It was hard to find the same scissors on retail web sites as listed on the Fiskars home page. This made me skeptical about their credentials.
Tape: For masking tape, transparent tape and painters tape each Im making the same recommendation. Scotch brand tape is the only brand that seems to be making any effort towards using recycled materials. Several of their tapes contain up to 30% post consumer materials however they do not seem to be guaranteeing the content of any of their products. They have one more advantage in that they will pay 2 cents back to our school for each tape dispenser or tape core we return though Terracycle.
Washable Markers: e-color-gy by LiquiMark makes a washable, non-toxic marker in 25% recycled plastic. They are water based and the packaging is made from 100% post consumer materials. Eight colors for $3.95 plus shipping. This price is less than the traditional Crayola washable markers. I could wish for a better eco-credentials however. US made.
White Glue: I found only 1 alternative to the standard white school glue and at 4 times the price with a limited eco-credentials, Im not currently making any recommendations. Its Elmer's School glue for now.
Wire Bound Note Book: After stumbling though endless option of percentage recycled & price we now have a favorite. Ampad Envirotech makes a single subject 100% post consumer note book with 100 sheets. Best price is $3.20 from Office Specialities. The best option is to use back of scrap paper when ever possible. I went my entire school career taking notes and doing my work on the back of scrap paper and still do to this day. There is also a less eco- conscientious choice for the smaller budget. Nature Saver recycled notebook with 30% post consumer and 100% recycled content for around $1.69 each.
Standard 2 pocket Folder: This gets confusing. Oxford, Pedaflex and Esselte are all divisions of the same company. There are two products. Earthwise some times 100% recycled, 60% post consumer and Earth-in-Mind sometimes 100% post consumer waist, sometimes 60% PCW. Both of these products are sold under all 3 brands. Information about the recycled content varies depending on what source you are reading and concerning which brand and what product. Recently we ordered a box of Earthwise and received a box of Earth in Mind. If you can find something to do with 25 folder, then they come to about 40 cents each. If you want something less confusing, the front runner in both eco-credentials and price is RePocket by the Sustainable Group. They are made from 100% recycled materials and 85% post consumer materials. They cost 99 cents each. They have a business card slot in case you are looking for folders for business purposes. Good luck.
3 Ring Binder: Natural Kraft Universal 3 rings binders in 1" size with 62% post consumer content and 15% recycled content can be found at bettymills.com for $2.76 plus shipping. There are some even less expensive options but they do not guarantee any post consumer content. For a small sideways in eco credentials and a large price jump, you can buy Wilson Jones Resource recycled kraft binder (50% PPC/100% recycled) Price $9.80. Of all the school supplies listed here, 3 ring binders are the easiest to come by second hand. I dont think I have ever been in a thrift store that didnt have a stack of them so please remember that reuse is still better than recycling and consider buying a used 3 ring binder. You might also try looking for cast-offs at work.
The next step is to try and figure out how to order the right amount of stuff from the least number of places to save on the carbon foot-print and cost of shipping.
We are not claiming all of these items are sustainable. Many of them are far from that. We still need to work at reducing the amount of disposable materials that our kids use up at school. This list represents the very best items we could find. If you have suggestions or comments please let us know before we hall off and buy the wrong thing. We at Greenknowe.org believe that it really does make a difference.
- Log in to post comments