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Home » Kids » 10 Ways to Be Greener This Back To School Season

10 Ways to Be Greener This Back To School Season

08/12/2018 by The Mama Maven

This is a sponsored post, see below for further disclosure.

We’ve been enjoying the last few weeks of summer but to be honest, I’m getting excited for my kids to start the school year. My oldest will be in middle school and there will be a lot of new routines to get used to. As I’m preparing for the new school year, I’m trying to keep in mind that there are many ways to help the environment – in fact, it can be so simple. Here are some ideas to make a few changes that may be small to you, but can make a great impact on the environment. 10 Ways to Be Greener This Back To School Season

10 Ways to Be Greener This Back To School Season | The Mama Maven Blog
  1. Re-Use and Recycle School Supplies  – While certain school supplies, such as notebooks, need to be new, there is really no need for brand-new other items, such as binders, pencils, and erasers. They will get the job done just as well as new items. Get a good pencil sharpener and sharpen the broken pencils; spruce up old binders with some colorful decorations. Consider donating used supplies you no longer need.
10 Ways to Be Greener This Back To School Season | The Mama Maven Blog
Credit: Pixabay
Set Aside Items that Might End up in the Trash Bin – Throughout the year I occasionally & receive letters from my kids’ teachers (including their art teacher) asking for items that can be used in crafts. Rather than tossing out an old milk carton or coffee container, designate a special box to store these recyclable items that can be used in the classroom for crafts during the school year. Use Frozen Juice Boxes Instead of Ice Packs – In lieu of an ice pack, freeze your kids’ juice boxes and store them in their lunch boxes as an ice pack. This will save you the need to buy several ice packs for your kids’ lunches (be sure your kids recycle their juice boxes when empty). Swap Backpacks and Lunchboxes – Have you heard of a costume swap? It’s when you bring an old Halloween costume and swap for another used costume. You can do the same with gently used backpacks and lunch boxes, so your kids can have a new style or character they like.
10 Ways to Be Greener This Back To School Season | The Mama Maven Blog
Credit: Pixabay
Walk or Carpool to School – If your kids’ school is within walking distance, have them walk – maybe with a few neighbors. If walking is not an option, consider carpooling with a neighbor to reduce pollution. Drowning in Paper – is it just me or do kids come home each day with tons of useless paper? Reuse the backs of letters from the school and artwork as scrap paper to practice math problems. The backs of teachers’ letters are especially useful for having your kids do beautiful artwork. Create New Crayons Rather than buying a new box of crayons, collect & broken crayons, unwrap them, put in cupcake tins and bake for 20 minutes at 150 degrees Fahrenheit. When they cool down, pop them out of the mold and enjoy a brand-new crayon for the kids to color with! Ditch the Plastic bottles – Invest in a BPA-free water bottle your kids will use every day. Sure, it’s easy when you’re rushing out the door to just grab a plastic bottle but if you fill the water bottle overnight and take it out of the fridge & while you’re packing lunch you’ll be saving dozens and dozens of unnecessary plastic ones. Pack a Lunch – Spend a few minutes packing a quick lunch for your kids, or, better yet, if they’re old enough, have them help you make it. They’ll be part of their decision and take control of their choices. When you plan your dinners you waste less food since you only buy what you plan on using in your recipes. Create a menu, figure out your budget and look out for in-store savings.

This post was written as part of the Allstate Influencer Program and sponsored by Allstate. All opinions are mine. As the nation’s largest publicly held personal lines insurer, Allstate is dedicated not only to protecting what matters most–but to guiding people to live the Good Life, every day.

Check out this post: https://www.themamamaven.com/6-ways-to-protect-your-digital-footprint-to-keep-you-and-your-family-safe-online/

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Filed Under: Back to School, Big Kids, Featured, Kids, Smart Ideas Tagged With: Allstate, Back to School, back to school season, be greener, eco-friendly, kids

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Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Liz hirt says

    09/02/2018 at 12:16 PM

    Number 10 is so important and something I try to do! Thanks for the tips!

    Liz @ mom always knows

    Reply
  2. Alina says

    08/30/2018 at 8:02 PM

    I just bought reusable straws for us to use at home and it feels like such an easy swap! Great ideas here, especially eliminating the plastic bottles!!

    Reply
  3. Aria | Blogs by Aria says

    08/29/2018 at 10:19 AM

    I’ll have to try the freezing juice boxes tip!

    Reply
  4. Kelly Plante says

    08/29/2018 at 9:24 AM

    Frozen juice boxes is a great idea! We also love to wrap our sandwiches in Bees Wrap instead of using plastic sandwich bags!

    Reply
  5. Jennifer Maune says

    08/28/2018 at 8:32 PM

    Freezing juice boxes instead of ice packs is a great idea! Never thought of that!

    -Jennifer
    https://maunelegacy.com

    Reply
  6. Bethany says

    08/28/2018 at 6:35 PM

    These are awesome tips! Freezing a juice box is such a great idea. I had never thought to do that!

    Reply
  7. krish says

    08/27/2018 at 12:13 PM

    Nice practical tips…I have been religiously making efforts to spread awareness on environment preservation..
    Regards

    Reply
  8. Monica Grant says

    08/22/2018 at 10:09 PM

    I love this, I am always looking to be greener and school time makes it so much harder. Let’s make education greener!

    Reply
  9. Krystel | Travel on a Budget says

    08/22/2018 at 7:24 PM

    I love the frozen juice instead of ice boxes and remaking crayons. Would love to try that

    Reply
  10. Christa says

    08/22/2018 at 10:09 AM

    Great tips! Not only do these suggestions help be a little greener, a lot of them also save money.

    Reply
  11. Amanda Martin says

    08/22/2018 at 9:17 AM

    Such great tips! I don’t have kids but I utilize several of these in my work life: I swap clothes with friends, always use a re-usable water bottle and pack my lunch!

    Reply
  12. Chrissy says

    08/22/2018 at 7:58 AM

    Great tips! Question about the crayons because I’ve seen this on pinterest and have wanted to try – but does it make your oven/kitchen smell like crayons? LOL! That’s the only reason I haven’t done it yet – so if I know from someone directly that it doesn’t happen I’ll try this weekend. 😉

    Reply
    • The Mama Maven says

      08/22/2018 at 4:29 PM

      Yeah, it’s a crayony smell.

      Reply
  13. Rachel says

    08/22/2018 at 1:34 AM

    We use school papers in our scrap printer at work. You never know who’s homework you will print a rough draft on.

    Reply
  14. sarah says

    08/22/2018 at 1:24 AM

    Love the idea of using your family meal plan. We often have leftovers, so adding those into lunches is a good idea!

    Reply
  15. Sherry says

    08/22/2018 at 12:18 AM

    It’s hard to believe that school is starting back up again. These are all great ways to be greener. I do a lot of these already. I’ll have to remember to freeze my son’s juice boxes to use as an ice pack.

    Reply
  16. Rhonda says

    08/21/2018 at 9:52 PM

    I remember at the end of each school year my mom would check all of our supplies to see what was still usable for the next year. So much waste each year by throwing away and purchasing all new items. Thanks for sharing.

    Reply
  17. Amy says

    08/21/2018 at 8:09 PM

    We are trying to be greener this year by using reusable napkins. I am also going to be getting snack bags my kids can use versus plastic ones.

    Reply
  18. Emily says

    08/21/2018 at 7:42 PM

    I love the idea of reusing school supplies because it can get expensive! We pack our lunches too!

    Reply
  19. Carol Bryant says

    08/21/2018 at 7:07 PM

    I love the fact that you are helping to reduce carbon footprints. It is a unique blog post and doable, actionable things parents can do right away.

    Reply
  20. Jeni Hawkins says

    08/21/2018 at 7:02 PM

    I love these tips! Setting aside what used to be trash or recyclables for crafts is BRILLIANT! I will definitely keep that in mind!

    Reply
  21. Heather says

    08/21/2018 at 5:53 PM

    Back to school always happens so quickly. It can be easy in the rush to go for the easiest option, but you’ve made it clear how easy it can be to make earth-friendly choices.

    Reply
  22. valmg @ Mom Knows It All says

    08/21/2018 at 5:39 PM

    Meal planning can save lots of time and money. I’ve never heard of using a juice box instead of an ice pack, if it works it’s a great idea.

    Reply
  23. Pam says

    08/21/2018 at 4:13 PM

    These are great tips for a greener school year. I feel like so much paper is wasted at school and at home.

    Reply
  24. Liz Mays says

    08/21/2018 at 2:44 PM

    These are such clever ideas. Ditching plastic bottles is something we could probably start right now and I’m always a fan of carpooling.

    Reply
  25. Connie says

    08/21/2018 at 1:48 PM

    Great back to school green tips. I’m sure teachers would love to have the unused school supplies in your cabinets.

    Reply
  26. Mariah Moon says

    08/21/2018 at 10:15 AM

    I’m always looking for ways to do simple things to live a more green life. We have so much paper! I hadn’t thought about using the backs!

    Reply
  27. Felicita Moncada says

    08/21/2018 at 9:42 AM

    We did a lot of your suggestions this year. I had so many supplies leftover from last year. The last day of school we put all their supplies in a bin so we were quickly able to find what we had. Made for a lot less spending!

    Reply
  28. Myrah Duque says

    08/21/2018 at 9:10 AM

    We always try to re-use notebooks that still have most of its pages. Why get rid of it? I am loving the crayons tip! I’ve never thought of doing something like this! Genius, thanks for the great tips.

    Reply
  29. Stacie says

    08/21/2018 at 7:55 AM

    These are great tips. My family and I have a made a concerted effort in the past year or so to really reduce our impact on the environment, and we feel so good about it.

    Reply

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