Be Green This School Year

It's just a matter of days before the new school year begins, are you prepared? Many parents have already started shopping with the intent of buying the pure necessities like pens, paper, pencils and binders. On average, a family of school-aged children spends about $250 on school supplies and electronics each year. Do your part this year and look for more environmentally friendly and sustainable school supplies. Dolphin Blue offers a variety of Back-To-School supplies made with post-consumer recycled content and Made in the USA.

Here are 8 green tips for school

1. Before you go supply shopping, go through all your old school supplies and sort out what you can still use and what you will need. It's best to wait until after school starts to get your school supplies, teachers will usually give out a list of materials they will require your kids to have for their class.
2. Reuse last years backpack. If it works then use it!
3. If you are buying school supplies try to buy products that are made with post-consumer recycled content, ideally buy products that are made with 100% post-consumer recycled materials. Buy products that can be reused or refilled, like refillable pens.
4. Walk to school. Streets surrounding schools usually become jammed packed with parents dropping of their kids, its better if you opt for walking or biking to school and if you're good, why not skateboard to school? Walking is known to improve the academic performance of students; they arrive brighter and more alert to their morning class, it can also reduce stress and increase creativity!
5. Take lunch. You'll be able to monitor what they eat at school if you or they prepare and take their own lunch. Send your kids to school with reusable bottles of water instead of plastic water bottles. Also, use reusable containers or lunch bags for snacks and sandwiches.
6. Teach your children to always recycle their paper at school.
7. Use both sides of the paper when taking notes in class.
8. Have your children cover up their textbooks with cut-up grocery or shopping bags to help keep their books in good condition. Many school reuse text books to save money and reduce waste so teach your kids to take good care of those books!

Schools Facts

1. There are approximately 133,000 K-12 schools in the United States.
2. There are approximately 60 million students, faculty and staff in schools.
3. For every 42 notebooks made with 100 percent recycled paper, one tree is saved.
4. 30 percent of all waste generated comes from packaging. Many supplies can be reused or recycled such as pens and notebooks.
5. American schools spend $6 billion each year on energy, more than what is spent on textbooks and
6. About 50% of classrooms have poor indoor air quality computers combined.
7. Green schools are built and designed with strategies and technologies that aim to improve the quality of indoor air, which could lead to improved student health, test scores and faculty retention.
8. Each school lunch generates 67 pounds of waste per school year. That means, just one average-size middle school creates over 40,000 pounds of lunch waste a year.