We love our kids and we love the planet. Both go hand in hand, and their futures are inexorably linked. Try as we might to educate our children on proven practices keeping our planet green, we are not around them all the time in every environment. School is the best example. Surrounded by their peers and left to their own devices some of these lessons can fall by the wayside. With these five simple tips you can make sure your kids are defending the planet even at school.
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Reusables – There are a wide variety of reusable items in our children’s school supply list. Buying recycled paper and notebooks is a given but there are several less obvious examples. Instead of buying a package of one use wooden pencils or pens, buy refillable pencils and pens to reduce waste. Also, if your child brings their lunch to school, don’t settle for the brown paper bag, but buy a reusable lunchbox instead!
No Waste Lunch – Instead of using plastic baggies for sandwiches, purchase some resealable containers. Avoid prepackaged meals, buy the same ingredients in bulk, and pack them in a reusable container. Opt for cloth napkins instead of paper ones, and ask the cafeteria for silverware instead of using new plastic utensils everyday.
Use Less Paper – Schools hemorrhage paper. Between printing curriculum, book reports, and flyers for various school events, the paper waste can be overwhelming. Encourage your kids to use as much of each sheet of paper as possible, front and back. Print things only when necessary and, as always, buy recycled paper.
Lights Out! – Help your kids to take initiative. Sure, you don’t want your child switching off the classroom lights mid-lecture, but it’s perfectly okay to encourage them to turn off lights in rooms they find aren’t in use. You teach the good habits at home, so don’t be afraid to encourage them outside the house.
Get Involved – The best way to lead is to lead by example. See to it your local school has recycling bins, uses recycled goods, and encourages the students to buy reusable school supplies. Organize a junk mail campaign where all the students bring a weeks worth of junk mail, and let them see what the scope of paper waste can be. Then ring us down at Rubbish Please. It’ll be quite the pile and we here at Rubbish Please will be happy to help you haul all paper waste away.
It’s for the kids, it’s for the future, and along with all the important things children learn at school, see to it that taking care of the planet is one of those lessons.
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