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Shopping for school supplies means doing your research to ensure you conduct your purchases in the most eco-friendly manner. Questions you may stumble upon are:
- What back-to-school supplies do you truly require?
- Are there supplies from previous years you can make good use of this school year?
- Are there brands out there that offer sustainable back to school products?
For a greener back to school transition, we have a few tips in mind—
Reuse Old Supplies
Do you want to take the most eco-friendly shopping step? Use and reuse the products you already have!
Reuse the old supplies you already have at home. Perhaps you didn't use everything you purchased from your list last year? Backpack, pens, notebooks, pencils— you might want to crosscheck what can be used this time around. Reusing can help save a good amount of money and prevent waste generation.
Purchase Used School Supplies
If old school supplies are over, consider secondhand replacements. Go to local sites that sell used back-to-school supplies. Ask around the neighborhood to find out if anyone is selling their stationery items. Alternatively, reach out to friends and family for school supplies they no longer require— if they do, we're certain they'd be happy to let you have them.
Shop Eco-Conscious Brands
Purchasing a completely sustainable school supply can be tricky. But what is plain as daylight is that some brands are superior to others. You want to choose the most conscious brands for the most sustainable options. To say, go for backpacks made of organic cotton canvas. Instead of plastic pens, choose the ones made from wood or metal. Recycled plastic is also an option. Overall, reusable alternatives should be the first choice. What comes next is quality— products made poorly get damaged soon, creating the burdensome repurchasing cycle. This is particularly important in the case of backpacks— poor quality backpacks last hardly a year or less, costing you more down the road. Investing in high-quality ethical backpacks from the get-go won't just save you the hustle of buying replacements but will also help you reduce your carbon footprint.
Eco-Friendly Back-to-School Supplies
Before you go shopping for back-to-school supplies, take an inventory of what you already have, and what you can reuse and recycle. The odds of buying new essentials will get lower once you do so. But if you must buy school supplies, go for sustainable brands that consider the environment. Here are some back-to-school supply options to help you get started—
Terra Thread Sustainable Backpack
Welcome to the world of stylish and durable backpacks crafted with rain-fed organic cotton– sustainability has never looked and felt so beautiful. Terra Thread's minimalist backpack is made of organic cotton canvas for excellent performance and durability. It has enough space to store your notebooks, textbooks, small pouches, iPhone, Macbook, and water bottles. The bag straps are adjustable, making it perfect for any individual doing the back-to-school transition regardless of their age. This backpack will quickly become a favorite for daily commute to school, office, weekend trips, and even hasty outings. Plus, every purchase of Terra Thread products supports Feeding America's campaign to end hunger by helping donate meals to kids and families in need. Your dollars will be doing a good thing!
Mini backpacks
Although it is the smaller version of Terra Thread's everyday backpack, you can safely conclude that it can carry your daily essentials. The body of the bag is made of a 14 oz organic cotton canvas that is free of synthetics and other harmful toxins. Our canvas mini backpacks are incredibly cute, spacious, and environmentally benign— the adjustable straps, a large interior pocket, an inside hanging pocket, and lead-free metal accessories make them ideal for transporting back-to-school supplies in flair!
Check out other products that will go with your Terra Thread backpack:
All Terra Thread products are made of 100% organic cotton.
Northbooks
Northbooks is an environmentally conscious company offering high-quality notebooks with respect for the environment. These minimalistic notebooks are made of recycled materials and come in graph, dotted, lined, and blank formats— giving you enough options to pick what you like. Northbooks also goes above and beyond by donating a portion of its sales to projects supporting reforestation. An individual American uses about 680 pounds of paper in one year, which amounts to 85,000,000 tonnes of paper consumption in the United States annually. You can help change that by using the Northbooks' eco-friendly notebooks.
Seven Year Pens
The Seltzer's Seven Year Pen is an excellent choice to minimize waste that causes environmental pollution. The name makes us think about the long-term viability of the things we regard as replaceable (single-use). The United States discards about 1.6 billion disposable pens in a year. Now, if we were to consider the rest of the world's plastic waste— it is not a pretty sight to imagine. The Seven Year Pens, on the hand, promote sustainability by facilitating a large amount of ink provision. The jumbo ink cartridge is estimated to last seven years if the writer writes about 1.7 meters per day!
There are plenty of ways to contribute to the betterment of our precious planet. And challenging yourself with simple changes like sustainable school essentials is perhaps one of the most basic yet impactful efforts. Choosing alternatives that eliminate the need for single-use plastics is a phenomenal way to live as a conscious consumer. You make decisions that are safer for you and the entire ecosystem.
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