The Conscious Consumer Shops for The Office and School

Offices and schools go through a lot of paper. Printing, faxing, copying, writing, taking notes, passing notes, and making paper airplanes all create a lot of paper waste. If you're not recycling your school and office papers, this is a great time to start! And you never know, some of that recycled material may just end up back in your hands as post consumer waste products!

"Post Consumer Waste" sounds gross. What's that?

Paper goods made from post-consumer waste (PCW) materials are the products made with all the newspapers, empty boxes of organic chocolate chip cookies, and old grocery lists we toss in our recycling bins every week. I always think it's neat that I might be printing my recipe for organic chocolate chip cupcakes (are you sensing a chocolate chip theme here?) on a piece of paper that used to be a cereal box (ok, definitely not chocolate chip) and yet the paper is somehow still brand new.

Consider how many paper goods you buy for school and work. Most of them are available in versions made, at least partially, with post-consumer-waste recycled materials. Even better, recycled materials require 55% less water to generate, help prevent deforestation, and even reduce air and water pollution. I like to think of them as the organics of the paper industry. And of course, when you're done with your PCW products, they're completely recyclable!

Here's something else to consider: The paper industry is the third largest energy consumer in America. So, when you choose to buy paper products made from post consumer waste materials, you're sending a message to big business that being wasteful is not acceptable and that consumers want environmentally responsible purchasing options.

Buying recycled office and school products is also a great way to get your kids involved in eco-friendly activities. Have them help find products with the triangular recycling symbol on them. When you're done using those products, have your kids help again by putting paper into the recycling bin.

Making a large office purchase? Take that huge cardboard box and make a puppet theater, a space ship, or a clubhouse with your kids. Cut it into pieces, paste kids' artwork on the cardboard, and turn their masterpieces into family gifts. While you reuse and repurpose your PCW paper and cardboard products with your children, talk about how many different ways you've used a single item before recycling it.

When it comes to paper and cardboard, the two main items we buy for the office and school, there are so many opportunities to be a conscious consumer. That's because conscious consuming isn't just about what you buy and how you buy it, but how you use, reuse, repurpose, and, ultimately, recycle those purchases.

Still, paper and cardboard don't have the market cornered when it comes to being a conscious consumer in the office and at school. There are a lot of other items with environmentally friendly purchasing options. One of my favorite ways to do my part when I buy office supplies is by shopping at The Green Office, a really nifty site that offers CO2-neutral delivery options and marks their products with cool little icons indicating things such as whether an item is recyclable, is biodegradable, meets EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) guidelines, or uses soy-based ink. They also rank the "green-ness" of each item so consumers can choose the options that are in line with their conscience.


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