In my house, we ‘shop’ for back to school supplies in June, not September. I’m a grade school teacher. Every June when my students do “locker clean-out”, it’s sickening to see all the school supplies they throw away. Barely-used binders, pencils, pens, pencil cases, crayons, and spiral notebooks. All tossed into the trash without a second thought. Even lunchboxes and backpacks in good condition! To celebrate the start of summer vacation, the family of one of my students actually burn everything on the last day of school in the backyard! (Note: Literally don’t try this at home. It’s not only a waste of materials — the fumes can be downright toxic!)
Then, a short two months later, throngs of parents and kids head to the Staples and Wal-Mart to buy loads of new stuff for the upcoming school year. Some people even consider it a fun ‘tradition’ to shop for new school supplies. But I have a different idea…
Since preschool, I’ve told my two sons, now a high school freshman and junior, that backpacks and lunchboxes are to be used for at least two years. Then, once backpacks become “ratty looking”, we use them for Boy Scout excursions until they are completely beyond repair.
Prepping the School Supplies Box for the Basement
On the first day of summer vacation, my boys and I go through their school supplies. We take apart the partially-used spiral notebooks, we recycle the used paper and the metal spiral, and we keep the blank sheets for next year.
The sturdy plastic-covered binders are spruced up (with a green brand of cleaner), and used again. Pencils are sharpened and put into the pencil cases; accompanied by all the pens, markers and highlighters that still work. Ditto for the rulers, protractors, 3-hole-punches and erasers. Backpacks and lunchboxes are washed and air-dried. Then everything goes in a box in the basement, awaiting Fall.
Helping the Environment and Saving Money, Too
During the first week of school, when my boys get their respective lists of needed school supplies, we buy only the things that are absolutely needed. This year I spent less than $20, and last year, we didn’t buy anything new!
We’ve been doing this since pre-school so they are accustomed to it and do not feel like they are missing out on anything. In fact, it feels perfectly natural to them — and they actually like helping the environment. How’s it going in your household? Any ideas to share?
Anne! Great post! I’m one of the already converted (I’ve been doing this for years with my rising 5th grader and 7th grader) commenting to share some additional perspective. This is a great reminder for all those parents that have made it to the end of the ‘school year finish line’ and their kids 🙁 or they 😮 just throw everything away.
Yesterday was the last day of school for my two here in Northern Va. In my kids’ report card folders, for the first time, the elementary school and the middle school enclosed the school supply lists for next year. Brilliant! Now I can look at their leftover supplies this year against what I know they’ll need next year and fulfilling that list is already underway (saves us time and money). The lists and the supplies go into our deep drawer in the kitchen for the summer.
Our family has done this for so long that my kids now know that NEW school supplies aren’t necessarily a hallmark of the beginning of the school year. Plus, they completely understand at this point (at 12 and 10) that the money I don’t spend on perfectly good reusable notebook paper, red pens, and binders can be spent on those new sneakers they want.
An unintended side effect of this practice — the reused stuff is considered ‘vintage’ or ‘cool’ to my kids. They LIKE bringing their pencil cases and binders out at the end of Aug with the stickers, duct tape and drawings on them. It’s like saying hi to an old friend who will go with them as they prepare to use these materials again. Who woulda thunk it?!
-k-
This makes so much sense. Let’s include office supplies in this too – for business and home offices. Can save plenty of money and create far less waste (not only the old stuff that gets thrown away but the packaging associated with new stuff). Many leftover school or office supplies in good condition can be put to good use in one way or another, or can be donated to local thrift store charities or other organizations that will use them.
Anne – Loved this post (and the comments). Hope it gets spread and tweeted to interested parents and teachers everywhere… Sorting, auditing and “rescuing” unused or reusable school supplies at the end of the year is such an easy and practical way to save time, money and resources in September (not to mention storage space in the basement)! And it helps instill good waste reducing attitudes and habits in the next generation. I suspect that more kids would participate (even the ones throwing out excess supplies during locker clean-out) if it was part of a larger lesson about the environment and the economy. Maybe start with “Story of Stuff” and ask how the students would apply it to school supplies. And making it a fun experience (either competitive or celebratory) wouldn’t hurt. Perhaps the kids could come up with a name for the new ritual, or figure out how to organize collections for donation. Have you seen the video of the 4th grade class that switched their classroom to solar energy to get off the grid? http://energy.gov/articles/fourth-graders-power-their-classroom-solar-energy Let’s put that youthful enthusiasm to work!
Here’s an ever more radical thought: instead of ‘shopping’ for new school supplies at all, in June or September, go out after the last day of school and dumpster dive for school supplies. I’m sure whatever your kids need (I don’t have kids yet but hope to someday) are probably in that dumpster, thrown away by someone else during the locker clean out! (Make sure to sanitize everything and wear gloves, of course.)
If you think middle school and high school are bad, then just wait until college. College students have clothing, bedding, appliances, posters, furniture, and yes, school supplies. Furthermore, many of those students live far away and are unable to transport all of the stuff, so the alternative is to simply throw it all away. Especially when the seniors leave, it is mayhem. There’s furniture, clothing, and appliances strewn about the lawns and streets, waiting to disappear somehow.
My housemates and I did a few things to offset this. To stock up the house in the beginning of the year we did almost all of our clothing and furniture shopping at Goodwill or thrift stores (note: if paranoid about bed bugs, 30 minutes in dryer high heat is sufficient to kill them). Two months before school ended we all thought about what we’d need when we went our separate ways. We then sold everything else. My friends sold their guitars, amps, bikes, etc. all on craigslist, rather than throwing it in the two dumpsters that are provided at the end of the year. When it came to the big move out day we offered up much of our stuff to underclassmen who put it in storage or non-students who could put it to better use.
Fortunately, we were lucky enough to have a program called Waste Not. Waste Not rents out Pods where students can dispose of unwanted stuff at the end of the year. All that stuff is stored throughout the summer and then put on display (like a tag sale) for students to buy. The pod and rental fees are paid for by the profits made during resale. Think it’s hard to get volunteers? Waste notters get to move to school early to help out. People apply months in advance for the opportunity. And while were talking about stuff, I encourage you to find a video clip of George Carlin’s rant on “stuff,” and how houses are simply places to put your stuff.
Both of my daughters are now in college and we just recently retired the pencil box that my daughter used K-12! I say retired because I’m sure we can find something to do with it around the house! They both reused and repurposed school items throughout the years and “shopped” in the bottom drawer of the file cabinet for replacement items that we purchased on sale. Our graduation gift to our daughters were new LLBean backpacks because the ones they used throughout middle and high school didn’t have a laptop sleeve…not because they were worn out! Isn’t it fun to be thrifty and frugal? 🙂
Mary,
Welcome to WeHatetoWaste.com ! Glad to see you here. This is ‘Junky’ Jacquie.
I’m sure that pencil box is a beaut!
Yes, it is fun to be thrifty and frugal. Each pen, each pencil saved, reused, sharpened down to the nub — a victory scored over waste!
Enjoy your visits here. Glad you found a little something that resonated.
Best for now,
– J J
Anne- this post really hits home! Flash-forward a couple years down the education trail and the problem only appears to be intensifying. As a junior in college, the amount of school supplies, furniture, clothing, and appliances I have seen gone to waste is almost unfathomable.
As peers spend hours in the library and then rush off to summer vacation, to many, recycling and reuse often seem inconvenient and trivial. Local families cluster around dumpsters at peak disposal hours, but heaps of high-quality materials still remain. How do we change the culture around the end of the semester purge?
One idea is an “adopt a family” program. At the end of the year, a student could be paired up with a local family in need of school supplies, appliances, etc., and donate his or her lightly used materials. (Maybe in exchange for a home-cooked meal if the family chooses not to remain anonymous…always appreciated during stints of high-stress!) Perhaps an on-campus volunteer group could take charge of transporting the donations. Thoughts? Thank you for the inspiration!
I really liked your final point stating, “We’ve been doing this since pre-school so they are accustomed to it and do not feel like they are missing out on anything. In fact, it feels perfectly natural to them — and they actually like helping the environment.” As an undergraduate student studying sustainable development, I believe the success to achieving sustainability is through education. It is exciting to hear of this behavior instilled in your own household at such a young age; I know that I would have behaved differently if educated about recycling and social responsibility in preschool.
I believe the challenge lies in changing the behavior of people already in the habits of unsustainable practices. Tonight I attended an information session on sustainability from Unilever professionals who are facing this very issue. Supply chain professionals in R&D were looking into how they can get consumers to break the habit of taking long showers and use dry shampoos, explaining that many of the company’s issues lie in consumption – how do they get people to switch to dry shampoos? It is difficult when adults are used to using products and practices they grew up with that are often entirely unsustainable. Implementing practices such as these in your household are inspiring and demonstrate how recycling and waste elimination strategies taught at a young age are already making a difference. Perhaps Unilever will not need to address these issues when the next generation is their main consumer demographic.
I 100% resonate with this post. When I was in elementary, middle, and high school, I would see my classmates get new backpacks every year. How unnecessary! I have had the same backpack since 8th grade. Not only do I avoid making needless purchases, I also get to keep my backpack, which might I add, holds all kinds of wonderful memories and sentimental value (it really is a win-win). I feel that if more people cared about the items they were purchasing, it wouldn’t feel so natural to throw them away after a certain amount of time had passed.
Karishma – Re your points about “wonderful memories and sentimental value” attached to your backpack, and the need to care about the items that we purchase… I hope you will read my post on the “Deep Meaning of Possessions” if you have not already done so. I suspect that you may have some examples to share.
http://www.wehatetowaste.com/the-deep-meaning-of-possessions/
And that respect for resources (and the things we own) is also reminiscent of Mottainai, the subject of this post: http://www.wehatetowaste.com/mottainai/
I’m glad to see this discussion, but we also have to address the demands made by the issued school supply lists and the need to challenge them. My son’s 1st grade supply list includes (among much, MUCH more) 24 pencils, 12 glue sticks, two packs of dry erase markers, and two packs of 24 crayons. Is my child going to use 24 pencils in one school year or the rest? Absolutely not. Which is why I am not dumping the required quantities into the bins. I’m happy to supply my son with what he needs and uses and to help supply the classroom with reasonable needs. But these lists seem to cultivate a culture of waste and irresponsibility. The boxes of ziploc bags REALLY get my goat. I haven’t bought a box of ziploc bags for my family in years because I wash and reuse them and because we use reusable sandwich and snack containers. Plastic = petroleum and water and electricity as we all know, but most people blissfully trash them like there’s no tomorrow. It’s truly time for parents to rebel, raise this issue with PTAs and principals and demand sensible supply lists. Schools are so big on teaching values, character, etc. these days—how about teaching kids to take care of their belongings and to conserve resources??