West Hartford Recycling Coordinator Katherine Bruns suggests ways in which students can make sustainable choices as they head back to school.

By Katherine Bruns

Back-to-school planning is a great time to talk with our children about the many ways THEY have the power to reduce waste, especially plastic waste, by the choices they make as they prepare to head back to school.

Kids truly love feeling like they can help the planet! Changing habits can be hard, but try picking just one new practice or reusable item as we head into a new school year and see how it goes! Remember the “3 R’s” and pick one (or several) new things to try. Might it be buying snacks in bulk? Saying no to disposable zip lock baggies? Using reusable containers and/or cutlery? Reusing last year’s binders and partially used notebooks?

Lunch in disposable packaging. Photo courtesy of Katherine Bruns

Here are some ideas:

Reduce

Reduce waste as much as possible in your child’s lunch. There are many choices for waste-free lunch containers! From reusable snack bags, to “bento” type boxes with dividers to keep sandwiches from touching other goodies. There are utensil kits, cloth napkins and water bottles too. Easily label with a sharpie to ensure misplaced items make it back home.

Save money and avoid the waste created by single portion snack packs by purchasing snacks like pretzels, yogurt, and dried fruit in bulk. This has the added benefit of portioning food according to how much your child can actually eats! This will not only decrease the packaging from so many chip and snack bags but also decrease the amount of food wasted. According to the EPA 4 billion juice boxes are consumed every year! And over 2.5 million water bottles an hour (and 8 out of 10 of them are not recycled).

Anyone who has spent time in a school cafeteria knows all too well the shocking amount of untouched food and useless packaging that goes into the trash. Kids are so busy having fun with their friends at lunch that they tend not to eat everything they bring. This is a great opportunity to teach them to be good stewards of the earth (and save money!)

Zero waste lunch. Photo courtesy of Katherine Bruns

Reuse

Consider reusing last year’s spiral notebook and three ring binders. Every year tons of paper is thrown away that is perfectly usable. Try reusing back packs, lunch and pencil boxes, too. Find pens and pencils from around the house. Explain why it’s important. Tell them they have power!

Recycle

Read labels and whenever possible buy material made from recycled content. This helps ensure there is a market for all the recyclables we put in our recycling!

Did you know K-12 schools generate 10 million tons of waste every year and 82% of that waste is paper and food waste? (epa.gov). Every little change we make adds up.

The children of today will inherit the waste we are all creating. Empower them to make easy changes for the benefit of their future!

Happy New School Year!

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