It is that time of year.  Back to school!

Millions of people flood the stores to buy new clothes, backpacks, binders, computers, etc.  Here are some tips to save money and be a little more green. Amazon has a back to school sale.

1) Stick with the same wardrobe. Buying a new set of clothes just to wear something new, is wasteful.   Also try hand me downs, thrift shops.

2) Reuse school supplies.  Look through your garage and dig up those old pens, markers, backpacks, binders, etc that can be reused.  You don’t need the latest commercial fade advertised all over your stuff. Donate unwanted items so others can reuse them.  If you need a new backpack buy one with natural fibers and skip PVC based ones. (Usually marked as #3)

3) Buy or use a re-usable lunch bag/box.  Also pack items in washable plastic containers, reusable utensils, not throwaway plastic bags. Thermos work great for drinks. Forget about juice boxes, use refillable BPA free bottles. Avoid lunch boxes with lead paint, PVC (Usually marked #7) , BPA, or antimicrobial chemicals.

4) Upgrade your computer, do not buy a new one.  Add some ram or a bigger hard drive.  Clean off junk that is un-necessary. Defragment your hard drive. Consult our Green Electronics Article.

5) Plan eco friendly transportation.  Bike or walk to school. Take the bus. Worst case, carpool with a friend.

6) Buy paper goods with high recycled content. Avoid PVC (#3) plastic. Binders, Binder paper, manila folders, notebooks, etc.  At least 30% post consumer waste is good.

7) Art supplies can contain many toxic chemicals so stick to water based paints with natural pigments, avoid polymer clays as they contain PVC. Buy natural brushes and pens with recycled materials. Avoid petroleum products by sticking to soy or beeswax crayons.  Water based glues are better than toxic ones or rubber cement.

Pencils should be plain wood, not painted, scented, or coated.

9) Cell phones should be low on the radiation scale and should be used with our tips.

NatureMill makes the new NatureMill Automatic composter that takes the pain out of composting. Composting takes kitchen scrapes and yard waste and turns them into super fertilizer, helping to divert waste from the trash pile. This product is ideal for apartments and non-gardeners.

Traditionally, you take your scraps to a compost box outside and mix them with grass, leaves, and other yard waste.  You need to balance green items and brown items and wait several months for results.

This new appliance does it all for you.  Just add food waste and it does the rest.  No need to collect waste, hike out to the backyard, rotate stuff. In two weeks you have compost.  It only uses 5 kwh of power a month, approximately $0.50 per month. This device is made recycled and recyclable materials and starts at $299.99 from amazon.  Review

Way Basics makes a eco friendly furniture and storage products.  We were sent their cube and it to be an easy to assemble building block product made from sustainable zBoard – recycled paper and itself fully recyclable. You pull off the tape and carefully tape boards together. It is pretty sturdy and costs $20.

photo credit: atomicjeep

I found some more resources for donating unwanted items in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Building Resources – Takes usable building materials. Free San Francisco pickup too.

Urban Ore - In Berkeley takes unwanted things and sell them as-is for reuse. See their Receiving Rules for what they take.

Scrap-SF – Takes donations for materials that artists, teachers, and individuals can use.

wardrobe.org takes donations of career-oriented clothes

East Bay Creative Reuse takes donations of arts and crafts items for reuse

We saw a biodegradable latex label on some balloons and decided to investigate. I have how wasteful balloons and balloon releases are.  Valentine’s day was a big balloon day leading local utilities companies  warn people not to accidentally release balloons. Hundreds of power outages are caused every year, affecting thousands of people.

Latex is made from the sap of rubber trees collected through a simple tapping process. They degrade with exposure to the elements with many degrading after fracturing in the atmosphere.

Mylar or metallized nylon (plastic) balloons are made of foil-like material that is recyclable but is not biodegradable.  These should not be released into the air.  So stick to latex ballons.

Some guidelines:

• Always attach a heavy weight to metallic balloons
• Never ever release metallic balloons outside
• Always keep metallic balloons away from power lines
• Never use metallic ribbon with a metallic balloon
• Deflate metallic balloons and trash them properly when no longer in use
• Never release large/oversized latex balloons or large bunches of them as they can strike power lines when released or when they fall back to the ground

Latex Gloves are made from the same rubber and have the same biodegradable properties. Some people are allergic to latex and should avoid latex products. Chemicals are added in the process of manufacturing latex and non-latex gloves. Powder free latex gloves are available.