Back to School in Sustainable Style
Summer isn’t over (yet), but summer vacation is drawing to an end. School may start as early as next week! If you have a school-age kid, that means there may be some shopping to do, which means there’s an opportunity to teach good habits and protect the environment for decades to come.
The NUMBER ONE most sustainable thing you can do for your school-age kids is set them up with nutritional, plastic-free, waste-free lunches. While cafeteria lunches are important and schools do the best they can, they are a bastion of waste. First and foremost, single-use is built into the system as many schools no longer have kitchens and dishwashers. Every day, each lunch is provided on a single-use tray with single-use food/drink containers and cutlery. Additionally, not everything on that tray will be to your kid’s liking, and portions are the same for every tray, so there is built-in waste. And all this waste goes directly into the landfill as most schools don’t have composting options and the containers aren’t recyclable.
Taking a beat to pack a nutritional lunch and snacks that you know your kid will like, or teaching them to pack their own lunches, sets the whole process up for success! Identify a washable lunch bag and food containers that work with your kid’s backpack. Find a glass or metal water bottle that they like, or expand into insulated containers if they prefer hot or cold options. Have your student bring home the uneaten scraps for your compost bucket. This is a pure win for your child’s health and the health of our planet.
The SECOND most important thing to do is to back off of fast fashion. While it is more expensive to buy clothing made wholly or mostly of natural fibers, they will last longer and be able to be passed on—which leads to the next point. Lean into Second Hand. Thrifting and vintage is cool again, so organize a clothes trade event with friends and family or have your older students set up something with their friends. You will ultimately save money while saving the planet!
For more tips, check out this full BtS guide TIPS: GO BACK TO SCHOOL WITHOUT ALL THE WASTE from The Story of Stuff Project.
Want more? Join LWV Chicago’s Environmental Action Committee. We meet the second Monday of each month @ 4:30 pm. Email environment@lwvchicago.org for the Zoom link.