Green your School Routine - Eco-friendly Back to School

The start of a new school year is a great time to re-think your family's routine and implement better, more eco-friendly habits.  Reducing lunch time waste should be #1 on the list and eliminating harmful plastics should be right up there as well. Here are some great eco-friendly items to add to your shopping cart - and to make it easy for you, you can click on any image or highlighted text and purchase these items directly from this blog at great Amazon.com prices! 

**As a little bonus, if you make a purchase from my blog (anywhere), you will automatically receive one chance for each item purchased to win a set of 4 aluminum colored water bottles with clips!!  The winner will be selected randomly on Sept. 11 and contacted by email.  If I get many responses, I may just add another bonus!  Once you have made a purchase, please leave a comment below WITH your email address so I can contact you.  This is just my first give-away so sign up to follow me for more! 

UPDATE: FREE BONUS to the first person who makes a purchase through the links on my blog(anywhere on my blog!)

Prize will be 2 Staples 6x9.5" Eco-friendly notebooks and a pair of Paper Mate Biodegradable Mechanical Pencils

Here are some great items to "Green your School Routine!"

Lunch Boxes:


My favorite lunch box system is the Kids Konserve Waste Free Lunch Kit.  This is a perfect collection of everything you need for lunch: recycled cotton sack, cloth napkin, 304 food-grade stainless steel beverage bottle, food kozy and two 304 food grade stainless steel food containers.  These are BPA, Lead and phthalate free, adorable, reusable and even recyclable.  They also come in a Butterfly print and Caterpillar Go Wild (pictured above at top of this blog).

I also like the Kids Konserve Insulated Lunch Sack to keep lunch items cold.  These are the perfect size for kids and adults (12" x 7.5" x 5") and have a handy adjustable strap for easy transport.  The exterior is made from 100% recycled plastic bottles (awesome!) and the inside from eco-friendly, BPA and lead-free insulation.  There is also a pocket on the inside for your reusable napkin, utensils or for an ice pack, like the Kids Konserve Squiggle Sweat-Free Ice Pack.  

These come in Moss and Beach (pictured) colors - I am a little partial to the Beach color, and it's bright color and pattern appeal to kids.


Another eco-friendly lunch box option are the Sugarbooger Lunch Sack.  These are adorably patterned bags made of laminated canvas and fully insulated interior.  They have a handle strap on the top and a hook & loop closure and even have an ID holder.  These are easy to clean and are even  machine washable (line dry).  Measures 10 x 6.5 x 4.5" so they are the perfect size for a kids lunch and will fit easily into their backpack.  Best feature of these lunch sacks are the fun and attractive designs!  Here are some to choose from:
Flutterby - adorable and colorful butterflies!
"You Rock" - girls (pink and artsy) and Boys (blue Guitar Hero)
Vroom - light blue with red cars, buses; Fairies and Berries - pink w/ pretty flowers, little fairies/berries; Outer space, Vintage Alphabet, and Robots (pictured).

Sandwich & Snack Bags:


I really like zip lock bags but I do not like the fact that they are plastic and not biodegradable so even though I reused the zip locks until they could not be used any more, a while back I stopped buying them altogether.  There are many great options now for sandwiches and snacks.
Reusies makes really cute reusable bags in two different sizes, 7.5"x6" and 6"x5" so they are great for sandwiches (larger size) and snacks.  They are made of 100% cotton lined with waterproof nylon and closure is a fold-over flap with Velcro.  They are BPA, phthalate and lead free AND they are made in the USA by a Seattle company!  They have plenty of great designs - many can be found on Amazon.com (or check out reusies.com for the full line).  Some of the designs (many are 2packs) include: Peace Flower, Pirates, Soccer and Baseball (pictured).

Another alternative to plastic bags are the Jaq Jaq Perfect Pouches - these are translucent (so you can see what's inside) and have a zipper closure so they are great for small snacks and other objects.  Free of BPA, phthalate and PVC, these are the closest thing to an eco-friendly zip-lock alternative.  Perfect Pouches are sold in 2-packs - The large size are 10.5" x 12" and the small are 8"x8".  You might want to use the larger size for organizing larger items like writing pads, pencils, crayons, coloring books, eating utensils and even dishes.  The styles include: Blue trimmed clear: small size, Pink Dots, large size, and Airplanes, small sized (pictured)

Eco-Friendly pencils and pads:

I found some really great eco-friendly writing gear on Amazon.com and thought these were great.

O'Bon makes great pencils with recycled newspaper and come in pretty cool designs: Wildlife theme, Fruit theme, Rainbow theme And Colored Pencils in Wildlife theme (pictured).  O'Bon also makes Eco-friendly notebooks made from sugar cane: Apple Notebook, Orange Notebook, Granite themed notebook

ReBinder makes great recycled office/school products that are  ZERO waste products.  They are made of recycled products and are recyclable - they are also an American company and are made by disabled workers.  Some of their products include: 3" 3-ring binder, RePlay CD Case - 25 pack. and Compositions Books

Backpacks:

Here are some of the cutest I found for the younger bunch: Skip Hop has very adorable, very durable backpacks made for pre-schoolers and young elementary students.  They are a NYC based company and their backpacks are all BPA, PVC and Phthalate free.  Features include a write-on name tag inside, a mesh water bottle holder and an insulated pouch for snacks and padded back - size is 10 wide x 11.5 high x 4 deep.  Called "Zoo Packs", some of the styles include:
Bee, Dog, Owl, and Frog (Pictured).  They also have matching lunch bags as well.

Another cute and soft backpack option for the younger kids is the Eco-Snoopers line.  These are made of fabric and include a plush Eco-friend that can attach to the back.  Size is approximately 11.5 x 8.5 x 4.5 inches so they are perfectly sized for ages 3 and up.  Here are some of the characters:

I have a whole collection of related items you can buy for great prices in my Amazon.com Storefront.  Check it out and don't forget about the bonus - it applies to everything in my storefront!

And don't forget to stock up on breakfast & lunch box foods and save up to 30% - see my last post.
Happy School Year!