Green printing tip no. 13: Are you looking for back to school environmental ideas?

Today we have another new tip on our weekly series of green printing tips, where we bring you in collaboration with Greg Barber, an experienced eco-friendly printer.

Everyone is occupied these days with back to school issues and so are we! Our tip today talks about ways to green it up whether you're a student, parent, teacher or a school staff member.

Are you looking for back to school environmental ideas?

Tip #13

We have couple of ideas today for parents, students, teachers and the school's staff:

Students - When you need to do a short thesis or major report, we can help you. we have an On Demand printing department, which can be useful for printing from one small book report, up to as many as you need. We stock 100% post-consumer waste paper, and we print with 100% non toxic toner.

We can wire-o, saddle stitch or perfect bind your report. All you need to do is supply us with a PDF in hi res. If you need help with your files, we have a pre-press department. We lay out books or thesis reports, from supplied word documents. We can even design a cover for you.

Parents - Green education can definitely begin at home with parents teaching their kids to be conscious of their environment, and they can make a difference. At the same time, there are tons of ideas if you want to reduce your kid's footprint at school and even make them look cooler at the same time!

Start with how you pack their lunches. Try putting their water or juice in a reusable canteen made from recycled, stainless steel, that weighs only 27 ounces. Recycled, stainless steel eliminates the harmful chemical, Bisphrnol, found in plastic bottles. You will be helping the incredible build up of plastic bottles in our landfills.

Speaking of recycled materials, check out TerraCycle's offers for schools - they have great and unique stuff made from recycled materials such as pencil cases made of cookie wrappers, or backpacks made of drink pouches, and they're all in a very affordable price.

Teachers - Green Planet published a great guide on how to green for school teachers with many creative ideas. Check out this guide and here's one more idea - how about bringing people who are involved with green practices to talk with your class? it can be a green architect, organic farmer and even your local green printer (we can help you find one!). We're sure the kids will find it interesting to hear about experiences of people who chose a sustainable career.

School Staff - How about sending paperless memos and updates to parents? you don't have to do it on on Twitter or Facebook, but you can definitely email memos to parents, send them periodically newsletters and even post on a website or a blog. Not only that you will be saving money on paper, toner and copy machine usage, but such a step can be a great fit with the the digital world your students (and their parents..) are living in.

If you have any further questions following our tips, or you have a specific question you want us to address, please email us to info@ecolibris.net .

Links to the last three green printing tips:

Green Printing Tip #12 - How to prepare files for your next Green Digital printing?

Green Printing Tip #11 - What are your green options when it comes to promotional items?

Green Printing Tip #10 - Are you buying environmentally sound business cards?

You can find links to all the tips we published so far on our green printing tips page, which is part of our green printing tools & resources.

You can also find further valuable information on Greg Barber Company's website - http://www.ecofriendlyprinter.com and you are welcome to email Greg directly at greg@ecofriendlyprinter.com.

Yours,
Raz @ Eco-Libris

Eco-Libris: promoting green printing

The greenest and coolest student in class

Let's say you come to class with ruler or notepad made of recycled materials. Wouldn't you like that they won't be only green, but also will be well-designed, and more than that - wouldn't you like everyone to know that your ruler was once 3 plastic cups??

Well, now it's doable. Remarkable, a UK company, offers a wide range of office supplies that are well-designed, made of recycled materials, and it is written on each of the items they sell what it was in its previous life. They make recycling not only green, but also cool and fun. Their philosophy, as they say, is "to create recycled items that are well-designed, great quality and a joy to own."

Now, who can resist showing off everyone in the class that their pencil was once a CD case, or that their mouse pad is made of recycled car tires??

Check out what they have to offer here.

Raz

Eco-Libris: Plant a tree for every book you read!