Backpacks are packed. Bus schedules are posted on the fridge. Kids are back to school across the U.S. As you started organizing what you had left from last year and what you needed to buy, how many old school supplies stacked up?
My kids have been out of school and college for several years, yet I still have notebooks, three-ring binders, filler paper, and book covers tucked away in closets. It left me wondering how to recycle old school supplies in the most environmentally friendly way possible.
After loading RecycleNation, I got to work sorting, researching, and recycling.
Sort Before You Throw Out
Before anything goes into a trash bag, sort items into three piles.
- Donate: What items are still usable? Check that pens still work, binders are structurally sound, and notebooks have clean, unused paper left.
- Repurpose: Can you use any items in other ways? For example, turn a pen case into food-coloring storage.
- Recycle: When you cannot donate or upcycle items, see if you can recycle them.
For now, those three piles get you started. Some items may not fit into any of those categories. Those are the items you have to throw out. Ideally, the pile headed to the landfill will be much smaller.
Find Ways to Donate
In some schools, teachers buy necessary classroom supplies from their own wages. They can declare these expenses on their income taxes at the end of the year if they’ve kept all receipts. Most welcome donations of gently used school items.
Before you throw out or recycle anything, contact your local schools. Many happily accept unused school items to distribute to the children who need them.
If your school district cannot use them, look for local and national agencies. Victims of domestic violence who are getting back on their feet often lack the funding to buy supplies for themselves and their children. Local shelters often accept school-supply donations.
The Kids in Need Foundation welcomes donations of new, unused K-12 school supplies. Box up what you have and mail it to the organization along with their product donation form.
If all else fails, post on community forums or sites like Craigslist or Freecycle. I’ve successfully given away items like three-ring binders and graphing paper this way.
School Supply Upcycling Ideas
Not everything will be useful for upcycling, but with some creative thinking, you’ll find new uses for harder-to-recycle items. Here are a few ways I cut down what I’m trashing or recycling.
Crayon Candles
Get a heat-proof glass jar, such as a pint mason jar, and add a candle wick. Use paraffin or soy wax beads and add grated crayons. Melt them in a double boiler. Pour this mixture into the jar and let it harden. Mix colors in layers or swirls. You have a colorful melted crayon candle for power outages.
Greeting Cards
Thick manila dividers for three-ring binders are ideal for homemade greeting cards. Use a paper cutter or scissors to cut the card into the preferred size. Sketch or paint images on the front of the card and write your message inside.
Key Storage
Organize your riding lawn mower, shed, toolbox, and other household keys in a three-ring binder. Purchase some clear binder card organizers and label each pocket with the type of key. When you’re not using a key, place it in the folder. Store the folder in a safe location.
Note Pads
Unused paper makes great pads for quick shopping lists or notes. Cut the paper in half or into quarters and store it in a container, or use rubber cement to bind the top. When you need a piece of paper to take a message or build a shopping list before heading out, you have paper available.
Recycling Tips for Common School Materials
Take your pile marked for recycling, make sure you can recycle it, and do so properly.
Electronics
Cables (USB and Lightning), calculators, flash drives, headphones, laptops, and tablets that are no longer needed or don’t work shouldn’t go into the trash. Many contain batteries that can spark fires or leak chemicals.
If they can be refurbished, donate them to an organization like Goodwill or the Salvation Army. If they’re completely broken, electronic recycling is the best option.
Paper Products
Notebooks are fully recyclable as long as the cover is cardboard and not plastic. If it’s plastic, remove the plastic cover and put it in the trash. Take out the metal or plastic spiral. Metal spirals can go into metal recycling bins. Plastic spirals go into the trash.
You can also recycle binder paper, graphing paper, construction paper, and file folders.
Pens, Pencils, and Other Writing Utensils
Staples accepts used pens and pen caps for recycling. They also accept crayons, colored pencils, highlighters, markers/marker caps, mechanical pencils, and pencils.
Storage and Other School Items
You can also recycle pencil pouches through Staples. Staples also accepts backpacks and lunch boxes.
Staples also recycles rulers, compasses, and other drafting tools. Finally, Staples also accepts empty glue bottles and glue sticks, but make sure they’re empty first.
The RecycleNation search tool is simple to use and makes it easy to find the nearest facility or retailer for school supply recycling. Enter the item you need to recycle and your ZIP code to find the nearest location.
Smart Shopping for a New School Year
Limit what you buy to avoid having leftover school supplies. I know my kids’ teachers often overestimated what was needed, especially once laptops were allowed for note-taking. Verify lists are accurate and that a full five-subject notebook is truly necessary when a three-subject notebook is adequate.
When you do purchase notebooks and paper, look for products made with recycled paper. Pens and pencils made from recycled materials are better than those made with raw materials. This provides a market for recycled materials to be reused.
Refillable pens use less plastic than single-use pens. Keep the pen and simply replace the ink as needed. Mechanical pencils work the same way. Replace the lead and not the entire pencil. If the eraser wears out, many have replaceable erasers.
Instead of plastic pencil storage cases, purchase materials like bamboo or canvas. They’re easier to recycle and also much more durable. If you must buy a plastic case, look for companies that make them from recycled plastic.
Finally, look for backpacks that grow with your child. Instead of replacing a backpack each year, choose one built to last. L.L. Bean used to provide a lifetime guarantee on their backpacks. While that’s ended, they still offer a one-year warranty. Other companies allow trade-ins.
The North Face provides a voucher to help lower the cost of a new backpack when you trade in an older one. REI Co-op and Patagonia have similar programs. Buy-back and trade-up programs save money and give older backpacks a second life.
