With 75.5 million students enrolled in school in the U.S., 3.6 million tons of waste are produced by U.S. colleges and universities alone each year. Most of this waste comes from paper and more than half of the waste produced could be recycled, but instead winds up in the trash. The second biggest waste product that comes from schools is food waste. A single elementary school in the U.S. produces about 13,360 pounds of food waste. In a close third, is the energy that schools waste – about $1.5 billion is wasted every year by leaving the air conditioning, heating, and lights on when nobody is there!
Use simple and easy ways to stop contributing to your school's waste. You can't change it all, but change what you can. It does make a difference.
Getting to School
There are so many energy efficient ways to get to school. Since most of us live close to the school we go to or send our children to, ride a bike to get there or walk. You get a little exercise and save almost 100,000 gallons of gas per day.
You can also take the bus. Since the bus can transport more people collectively than taking separate cars, it saves enough energy to send a bus five more miles than a car can travel one mile.
If you have to take a car to school, then consider carpooling. It saves time and money, and reduces congestion on our streets.
In the Classroom
Use both sides of your paper and recycle it when you're done using it. Since the average schools wastes 38 tons of paper per year, it'll help to save 8 million sheets of paper from winding up in landfills.
Use refillable pens instead of disposable ones. You can help to save 1.6 billion pens that are made of non-recyclable materials from the trash on an annual basis.
Buy and sell used textbooks. With $10 billion of textbooks sold each year, Americans who recycled just 1% of these books would save so much money that it could pay the tuition of more than 4,000 college students per year.
In the Lunchroom
Pack your lunch using a reusable lunch bag and reusable containers. Avoid using zip lock bags, aluminum foil, and saran wrap. Use plastic containers, cloth napkins, and silverware instead of plasticware.
See if you can get your school involved in a food donation program to donate unused food from the cafeteria instead of throwing it away. This could provide one meal to 2 million of the starving in the world today.
Recycle. Deposit your recyclable items in the proper bins in your lunchroom. If your school doesn't have a recycling program, try to set one up.
School Supplies
Look for, buy, and use adhesive notes, paper, and binders made from recycled materials.
When you use file folders, use both sides – turning the file folder inside out to use the tab on the inside when you need to make a new folder. You can also consider using a label to cover up the information on the old tab. Also, when you buy new file folders, buy folders made from 100% recycled materials.
Buy paper that is made from recycled material. Using recycled paper requires 44% less energy to make than new paper, and produces 48% less waste.
Buy and use recycled paperclips. Recycle your old paper clips. These handy little office supplies can be used over and again, which makes them an environmentally friendly product if used correctly.
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