School Offers Paper-Free Handouts

I wrote last week about the reusable scratch paper that lets your kids save paper at school by reusing pages for notes, doodles, and sketches. What if your child's whole school could follow suit and eliminate the paper used to send home school lunch menus, schedules, fundraising information, and other announcements?

One school is doing just that. Liberty Elementary, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania's largest elementary school, is now using the web to send information to parents that would otherwise have gone home on paper. The school built a website through a platform that allows users to create free sites.

Of the school's 520 students, less than 10% opted to receive paper handouts, either because they prefer that form or more likely because they don't have Internet access at home. And important info like report cards still get sent home on paper. But still, the school's paper reduction has not only helped to eliminate waste, it's also saving the school a fortune in paper costs....$1,521 this year according to Liberty Principal Tanja Pederson.

With such great money and planet saving potential, this idea is surely worth bringing up at the next PTA meeting!