TreeHugger Goes Back to School
by Jasmin Malik Chua, Jersey City, USA on 08.24.07
Already we can hear the groans of millions of schoolchildren all across America as they trudge back across the schoolyard. What are the future leaders of tomorrow packing in their book bags? If you're looking to give your kids the head start they deserve, here's how they can score an A in Environment before the bell rings for first period.
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1) Keen's Hybrid Transport backpacks incorporate leftover aluminum and rubber materials from their shoe-manufacturing process, along with recycled polyester and foam from outside sources. If you're looking for something a little different, here's a selection of other eco-friendly book bags we like. |
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2) Save trees one Smencil at a time and smell delicious while you're at it. Comprising a No. 2 graphite core wrapped tightly with layers of newspaper soaked in eco-friendly fragrances, then topped off with a biodegradable eraser, each Smencil is guaranteed to keep its scent for two years. If the scent of natural cedar is more your sniffer's speed, check out ForestChoice's au natural pencils crafted from sustainably harvested cedar. You can even choose pencils made from recycled denim. |
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3) Made from corn starch, these biodegradable pens are produced by Industries for the Blind, an organization staffed by the visually impaired. You can also get refills so you can reuse the same pen casing over and over again. Another option: Pilot's BeGreen pens made from 65 percent recycled materials. |
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4) Color inside or outside the lines with this set of Forestry Stewardship Council-certified coloring pencils. Made from sustainably harvested California cedar, the pencils travel in packs of 12. |
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5) If your kid insists on eating paste, at least let it be Coccoina's nontoxic, non-solvent, and acid-free glue. The almond-scented paste even tastes like marzipan. (Well, if you're into that sort of thing, that is). Also comes in the form of glue sticks for portability. |
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6) Staples are so passé—try one of these adorable staple-free staplers for size, instead. Both dog and cat versions work by punching a tiny hole in your documents and then folding the remaining flaps together to secure your stack of papers. |
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7) We're absolutely besotted by Ecojot's 100 percent post-consumer recycled notebooks, sketchbooks, journals, and notepads, which are made in Canada with biodegradable vegetable-based dyes. Even the paper mill functions on landfill-gas-generated power. |
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8) Brown paper bags encourage deforestation, while vinyl lunch boxes contain lead. What's a parent to do? Give these waterproof neoprene lunch bags by BuiltNY a whirl—they're insulated to keep food hot or cold, and are slick-looking, to boot. |
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9) Get your three-ring binders, or Rebinders, from the Sustainable Group. Made from sturdy corrugated cardboard with 35 to 38 percent post-consumer recycled material, Rebinders are completely recyclable. And if your binder suffers any damage, you don't have to chuck the whole thing. Just order a new cardboard cover and screw on the original hardware from your previous binder. Lots of room for you to experiment with how your initials look with his or her initials. |
Are the pen refills (#3) biodegradable?
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I doubt it since they'd contain traces of ink.
Those Forest Choice pencils are made using wood from the USA then made into pencils in Asia then sold again from the USA. That's not very green. Is the metal recycled/recyclable? Is this magic graphite that is not mined from the earth? What's the eraser made of? Smencils come in a huge plastic tube (which they take back and reuse, but who the hell really does that?). Unless they are those recycled graphite pencils from Tombow, there are no really green pencils. Everyone forgets where graphite comes from -- not FSC certified trees.
I don't mean to be an ass toward TH -- there are enough trolls around here doing that. I'm just sharing what I know.
Ron you have a very good point, but its a start. Would you rather nothing be done? I would rather buy something semigreen than the regular stuff out there. In a few years we'll have better greener products. You can do what I've done and go to the manufactures websites of some of these green making products and leave comments or make suggestions. I've already done it with the smencils. Advertisement and costs are their main reasons for using plastic containers. Its not cheap to go green for them either, but yes eventually they need to get rid of the plastic container.
You're absolutely right, and I won't argue with you. Every little bit helps. I didn't mean to sound a negative as I did:) I think those corn pens are really neat.
But in the case of Forest Choice, it's very much green washing of a product that is less green than some other American made pencils that are made from sustainable wood that is just not FSC certified like plain old Dixons and Papermates (the cedar ones, that is).
Another approach to going green when gathering school supplies is to encourage the kids to reuse. Offer a reward to the kids for gathering as many items on their supplies list from around the house. We had plenty of crayons, glue, pencils, notebbooks etc. from previous school years. We consolidated glue bottles and sharpened pencils to make them just like new again!