Green Spotlight

HOW YOU CAN HELP SAVE THE PLANET AT YOUR SCHOOL

Posted on June 11th, 2008 by ivyr.
Categories: Enviro-news.

 

BLACKBOARD ERASERS- Don’t clap blackboard erasers together because the dust from the chalk dusts up more things and that costs more to clean.

CRAYONS-Try avoiding crayons that are made from paraffin wax, which is derived from petroleum. Try using crayons made from soybean oil which have the benefit if being nontoxic and America is the largest producer of soybeans in the world!

MARKERS- Some markers can contain harsh chemicals that in which the smell from them can leak and drain into the ground in adition they should be properly disposed of. So try using refillable markers.

CHALK-Request dust free chalks because it limits potential exposure to airborne particles that aggravate asthma and other respiratory illnesses.

PENCILS-Mechanical pencils are better than pencils regular wooden pencils because the more wooden pencils they make is just like cutting down a tree think of how many trees are being cut down so we can have pencils( the wooden ones ) and buy mechanical ones that are made out of recycled plastic .

PENS- Use refillable pens because when a pen is out of ink you are throwing away a perfectly good pen that just need some more ink so buy refillable pens.

SCHOOL BOOKS-Buy used text books or use your older siblings old ones (optional if have them) and then when you are done with them sell them as you are doing this you are probably saving about 2 ½ trees just buy buying used school books and then selling them back or even giving them to someone younger than you that need them or giving them to a younger sibling

VENDING MACHINES- Try not to buy so many snacks and drinks from vending machines because 187.6% of all schools are selling snacks and drinks in plastic wraps and all the plastic goes straight to landfill wastes.

LIBRARY BOOKS / RESERCH- If you are going to your local library for just research try using a digital library off the computer instead of driving to your local branch because the circulation of books from public libraries is 1.9 BILLON a year or about 7 times checked out by person. If every American checked out books and researched online at least a single book a year we could save 300,000,000 trips to the book shelves!

BINDERS- Next year try using the same binder again or if not try using one made out of recycled materials such as: Paperboard, cardboard, steel and much more. If every student in the U.S.A. either used the same binder as last year or used a binder made out of recycled materials we would probably save about 1,245 acres could be saved from being cut down.

NOTE BOOKS- Wire bound note books with 20 % post consumer fiber I would recommend using because they are cheap and help reduce landfill waste. A paper mill (factory) uses less than 20 % less energy to make paper from recycled materials than it does to make from fresh lumber. For every 100 pounds of trash we throw away 39 pounds of it is paper.

PAPER CLIPS – Reuse paper clips they are definitely recyclable and they won’t be ruined after you have used them once. TAPE DISPENCERS- We all know that we can reuse tape dispensers and just buy more tape.

By FROM YOUR PLANET HELPERS KRISTY AND LILY