As a parent, there’s one day of the year you wake early like a sugar-addled child on Christmas. You bounce around the house with 30 fluffy puppies-worth of skittering joy. This is the day your kids go back to school. You bound into your children’s’ rooms, honking an air horn not only to rouse the little buggers but to celebrate this momentous occasion. While they slump over limp with sleep crusted eyes, you cram them into clothes and catapult them out the door. Oh joy, the kids are back in school!

 

Hold up, chief. You gotta get them prepared first, and if you have to buy them a ton of new gear why not try to green your shopping (and maybe save a buck or two). Besides the best thing you can do for the earth is to pass along sustainable practices to your kids. So before they start their math and English lessons, give ‘em a green lesson.

 

Think inside the box. Ditch the brown bag and send the lil’ shavers off the school with a reusable lunch box. And to get your child stoked about it, get a box that features one of their favorite animated characters, like Alf. Kids love the Alf still, right?

 

Take Inventory. Sure, you’ve got a lot to buy, but before you purchase everything on the list, take a quick look at what you already have. If last year’s backpack is in solid shape, no reason to toss it. If you bought the kid shoes this summer, they probably don’t need new ones.

 

Go Retro. Seems like all the big clothing retailers design their clothes to look like they came from years ago. Don’t settle for faux vintage, get the real deal. Shops like the Buffalo Exchange specialize in high quality vintage clothing. Think of the volumes of street cred your kid will get, and the recycling (not to mention money saving) you’ll be doing.

 

Pens You Can Eat. Luckily, earth-friendly degradable school supplies are just about everywhere now. For instance, you can purchase pens with shafts made of corn and ink made of soy. When you hand these beauties over to your kid, encourage using the pens until they are dry. Once said pens go into the landfill, thanks to their organic materials, they won’t be there for long.

 

Not White Paper, Right Paper. Go for unbound and notebook paper with the highest amount of post consumer content. Having paper with history that has been places may not help your kid in history or geography, but it couldn’t hurt.