Week 13
With unlucky number 13 comes some unforeseen trash, I guess. (I’m not really that superstitious, but week 13 has given me a few new trash-related dilemmas to mull over).
First, the good news. It’s been an entirely trash-free week for us – at least, I’ve added nothing to the shoebox this week. However, the bad news is that I do have several items I think could ultimately end up as trash. I’m saving them out in the hopes that we can come up with something creative and upcycle-y to do with them, but I haven’t had a lightbulb moment yet.
My job as a teacher yet again poses a new trash problem for me. By far the hardest part of the year is reducing my work-related trash. The office supplies that are such a part of my job are often disposable – if you’ve been reading in recent weeks, you’ll know that pens and dry erase markers are my current challenges. I have been using my fountain pen to reduce pen trash, but I doubt there’s any way I get through the whole school year without exhausting at least one pen. Dry erase markers, ditto – there is no way around me using these. I don’t have access to a chalkboard and though much of my notes and lectures are paperless, I do still need to write on the board occasionally.
A new challenge reared its ugly head just today in the form of the lamination machine. I didn’t laminate a thing last school year because I just found out where the machine is housed and how to use it (not really part of the standard teacher-training, I guess). So, I had a stack of posters and such to laminate, which I hauled down to the machine today and covered in plastic. The nature of the machine is such that excess laminating plastic has to be trimmed from around each poster, so now I’ve got a sack of laminating scraps on my hands to deal with. I’m considering trying to make some sort of plastic confetti to use in a craft project, but this is the only idea that’s occurred to me so far. Anybody else have other suggestions? I’ve greatly appreciated all the feedback I get each week, and one of the things I love best about keeping this blog is the wide readership, which means a wide scope of ideas we can share with each other. Each time I’ve posted a challenge I’m facing, people write to me with suggestions, such as using a fountain pen in place of ink pens and donating my hair to organizations that can reuse it.
Anyway, the other trashy thing that’s causing me concern right now is my husband’s pair of dress shoes, the soles of which are completely separating from the rest of the shoes. I’m afraid these are headed in the trash direction, which would seriously disrupt the amount of trash we’ve avoided this year. I don’t feel right donating them, because getting rid of an item just before it becomes trash really isn’t true to the trash-free mission we’re on. I know Nike takes used athletic shoes, but these don’t fall into that category. We’re going to try to repair them and squeeze more life out of them, but we’ll see what happens.
In other news, the Halloween season is upon us and we’ve started decorating our new house accordingly. As huge Halloween fans, we go all-out, especially this year now that we’ve moved to a new house in town where we’re likely to get trick or treaters. And while all the decorations we’ve purchased are either unwrapped or from a thrift store, I’m starting to think about what kinds of treats to give the kiddos on Halloween. One thing we’re really excited about in our new house is to hand out candy to little kids – we’ve never done this before. But then, individually wrapped candies in plastic wrappers are the antithesis of the Green Garbage Project – we’re trying to avoid all individually wrapped things. I’m thinking in the direction of buying candies wrapped in paper, like Nerds or M&Ms, but there’s little likelihood that these wrappers get recycled once home anyway. A leading tenet of this project is the attempt to live as normal a life as possible in a trash-free way, so we’ll have to figure out how to balance the two.
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Just a few ideas after reading your latest blog.
For the laminating scraps, are they big enough to make bookmarks out of? Cut them down to size, cover them in some pretty paper, and allow your students to use them whenever they need to. It may not eliminate all trash, but it could certainly cut down the amount.
I know candy is a big thing to love to give out, but have you thought about give out something else? Maybe pencils, or Halloween erasers? Kids get LOTS of candy, and it would be fun for them to go to school the next day with new design pencils or little treats like that. My grandmother also used to give out juice boxes for the kids to drink while they were out trick or treating. What about something like that? Maybe the juices in the plastic jugs? Because they are bigger,m and plastic, they may have more of a chance of getting recycled than something like a Skittles wrapper.
Regarding the shoe dilemma, does resoling the shoe count as trashing it? I’m sure if you found a cobbler around town, they would be able to repair the shoes to give them another year of life. I run through the soles of my shoes yearly and repair them using cobblers.
many people in portland hand out other things than candy, like pencils, sidewalk chalk, etc. things the kids can use that are inexpensive, and are biodegradeable. and the whole razor blade in an apple story was fabricated back in the late ’70s/early 80′s. i think it’s time we revisted the healthy treat options, don’t you?
Hi Amy,
On the subject of Halloween, I am not sure this applies to your direct concern, but there is an organization called Green Halloween that you might check out. One focus is on alternatives to giving out candy, and one suggestion is “treasures not treats.” More info here… http://www.greenhalloween.org/content.php?page=treats. Have fun!
Give out pencils made with recycled content – kids LOVE these – you can order them made from newsprint, cardboard, denim, even cash bills!
Hi Amy,
About your pen dilemma. The fountain pen is a good way to go, but there is also something called an “eco pen” which looks like a Bic, but is made out of biodegradable materials. I think its made by Acme Studio, but can’t be sure. A quick search on the web should come up with it. Also, there are actually refillable dry erase markers available, you might look into that. Good luck!
In lieu of future laminating projects, you might want to think about spray-mounting items to foam board. The foam board will create scraps as well, but these are easily used in kids’ art projects. And the great thing with foam board is that when you no longer need the poster you have on the board, you can spray-mount something directly on top of the existing poster, thus re-using the foam board.
Maybe the laminating scraps could be re-used in Christmas wrapping and packaging.
I’m puzzled as to why you have even started to use the laminating machine if you know it creates a trash problem. If you managed all last year without even knowing where it was why not keep your classroom laminate free this year too. Laminating posters in schools is a relatively new thing. Personally I’m not convinced that it is necessary. An unlaminated piece of paper or card can stay on the wall plenty long enough for your class to get the message, can it not? When it eventually gets tatty it can be recycled and you have the opportunity to put up the same information but shown in a new way – all the better for getting attention.
Good luck with your quest!
I thought I might throw out the brand names of the items Jenny was talking about, to make it easier for you to locate them.
AusPen makes the refillable white board markers. You can get them in six different colors.
Goodkind makes a recycled wood refillable pen/pencil. Green Pen makes a biodegradable refillable pen made out of corn.
Here is where I purchase mine locally: http://cleancalgary.org/index.php/store/product/C190/190/P5/
You might want to browse through their office section, just to get an idea of what other earth friendly office products are on the market.
Good Luck!