How to Recycle Your Child's School Supplies

Before you start your back to school shopping, go through all your supplies from the year before. Never get rid of supplies at the end of the year because you may be able to reuse them, or recycle them the next year. Instead, at the end of the school year, get rid of all the old papers, etc but set aside all supplies. Put them in a shoebox or two and put the away in the closet for a few months.

School Supplies That Can Be Recycled

There are sometimes specific things that teachers ask children to bring in for their classes for the year that the next year they will not be using. Some examples of supplies that may not be used again because the older grades don't require them, or other reasons are as follows pencil boxes, crayons, index cards and more which you can determine by your child's new back to school shopping list.

Go Green and Recycle Unnecessary School Supplies-Four Simple Ways

1) If they are still new or appear new, donate them. In these economic times there are so many children without, it almost seems a crime to throw away unused, or gently used supplies. To find out easy ways to recycle supplies, please refer to my article How to Donate Extra School Supplies.

2) Use them at home at your child's homework station. For example, in your child's current grade they may not need pencil boxes anymore. No reason to just toss this great organizational tool. Keep it at home to do the same thing it was used for in school. Keep a wide variety of writing tools in this box. Pencils, pens, colored pencils even a ruler can generally fit into these. This way there will never be that mad rush at homework time to find a pen that works, or those colored pencils for their project. This can be done with many of the supplies from the prior year. Then your child's homework station will be ready for any assignment or project.

3) Crafts is a great way to use construction paper, crayon stubs, and other supplies no longer needed in the upcoming grade. When I was younger, we used to take all the stubby crayons and put them between layers of waxed paper and iron it. The effect was so much fun and very pretty when dried. For simple directions on how to do this, please visit Enchanted Learning for some easy instructions. Not only is this a good way to recycle school supplies, it is also a great way to have some family fun.

4) Of course, if there's more than one child in the family, recycled school supplies is a given. All gently used supplies can once again be used by the next child down. Take the time to explain to your children about recycling and why it is necessary. A good lesson to teach them is that by taking very good care of their supplies, they can once again be used, recycled. Explain to them how they will be helping the world and the family by not doodling in their folder or binders and not just "lose" pens and pencils all the time. They will be helping the world of course by not adding to the amount of trash we produce every year. They will be helping the family by cutting down on back to school supply shopping, in turn saving the family money. Reward your child at the end of the year when they produce reusable school supplies. This should be tailored to that child in particular, but be creative and try not to make it monetary, as that kind of takes away from the lesson of saving the family money.

So don't throw away, instead recycle school supplies. By doing so, you reduce the amount of trash in landfills. By recycling school supplies you can do some fun quality family time activities. Always remember, there is almost always a way to re-use or donate school supplies.

personal experience
http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/5658224/how_to_donate_extra_school_supplies.html?
cat=25
http://www.enchantedlearning.com/crafts/butterfly/stainedglass