School Tools
Green supplies—on a budget? Yes! For less than $30, you can fill your kid’s backpack with eco-friendly pencils, scissors, and more.
By Stephanie Hacker
1. Terracycle’s products come from recycled food containers—so your kid can pick her favorite snack and get a notebook to match! ($3.99-$4.99 each, Target stores nationwide)
2. For a school-supply-and-game in one, pick up Carolina Pad’s folders, which have a hidden Sasquatch in their designs. ($0.99 each, Kmart stores nationwide)
3. Swap the old yellow octagonal pencils for Green Apple School Supplies’s triangular ones, made from scrap cedar wood. ($4.99 for ten, redapplesupply.com)
4. Color smart with mini colored pencils from Tree Smart—they’re made from rolled-up recycled newspapers. ($4.10 for 12, pencilthings.com)
5. It can be hard to find eco-friendly scissors for kids, but this set form KleenEarth is good for little hands and for the planet, with 70% recycled-plastic handles. ($4.20, Office Depot stores nationwide)
6. Coccoina’s almond-scented glue sticks are natural, nontoxic, and solvent-free. Plus, they smell like dessert—yummy! ($4.50, seejanework.com)
7. Don’t forget the backpack, so your kid can carry all your great green buys: The REI ecoSensitive Trail 25 Pack has recycled fabric that comes from plastic bottles (each one keeps nearly 20 bottles out of landfills). ($59.50, rei.com)
