Use only Green- Back to school offer

Go back to school and reduce your footprint getting there.

It’s no secret that students all around the world are dreading the fact that it is already a start of new school semester. What they may not know, is that the planet’s forests are dreading their return as well!

Between handouts, lesson plans, administrative documents and pop quizzes, schools consume tons of paper in one school year. Add to that the fact that each student comes equipped with countless binders, notebooks, accessories and hordes of freshly lined paper. It doesn’t take long for one school to start consuming trees!

Now, to be fair, schools are not the only culprits on the rate of deforestation. The average US office worker uses over 10,000 sheets of printing and copying paper per year. Dig a little deeper and you find that the average office worker also generates 2lbs of paper waste each and every day.

As of 2005, paper and paperboard (used for binders, etc) consumption, in the United States of America, grew 154% from 1961 levels and peaked in 1999 at a 174% increase from 1961. It is estimated that 20% of deforestation is due to paper consumption; and to manufacture one pound of paper requires three and a half pounds of wood and produces three pounds of carbon dioxide.

So how do we rectify a problem of this magnitude? Eliminating paper completely from your daily life is likely highly unrealistic, but you can get much smarter about the paper products and school/office supplies that you have to purchase. Fortunately, most major retailers offer a large variety of paper goods that contain a high level of recycled materials and many have begun to carry 100% post consumer or recycled products. You can also look at purchasing all recycled supplies, such as recycled cardboard binders and divider tabs, pocket folders, presentation folders and recycled paper notebooks. If we add these types of products to our daily lives, in addition to being more conscious about the amount of paper we use, together we can start to lessen our impact on our trees.

To find out how you can purchase recycled school supplies for your children, visit:
Use only green and buy eco-friendly back to school products.