Be Part of the Solution
How can we make the "back to school" process more environmentally friendly?
-Instead of buying lunch from the cafeteria, pack a healthy, organic waste-free lunch in a metal or PVC-free reusable lunch bag and a stainless steel water bottle.
-Before shopping, take a careful inventory of what you already have, like pencils, notebooks, glue sticks, markers, paper, etc.
-Help your child’s school start an edible garden on the campus.
-If possible, carpool! You can cut your weekly fuel costs in half if you take turns driving (or better yet ride the school bus, 31% of students live less than a mile from home, so even better, walk or bike).
-Buy used textbooks and sell back at the end of the year.
-Almost half of the money spent on back to school shopping goes to buying clothes, why not try a flea market, yard sale or thrift store?
-Look for recycled pencils and refillable pens packed in recycled packaging.
-Turn off your computer at night; a computer left on 24 hours a day costs you between $115 and $160 in electricity annually.
-Reduce word document margins to .75” and turn scrap paper into note pads.
-Buy paper with the highest percentage of post-consumer recycled content possible, and processed chlorine free (PCF), like New Leaf Paper for printers, and Mead Recycled Notebooks for school.
-Help your child’s school start a recycling program.
-Print double sided and only what is necessary.
For more tips, or to learn more about sustainability at St. Petersburg College, contact Jason Green at [email protected]. Then visit http://www.spcollege.edu/sustainability, join the facebook group and follow us at http://twitter.com/sustainableSPC.
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