waste, schools, going greenIs your child's school joining the green movement? If not, maybe you can help nudge them along.

I was so thankful this year when my son's elementary school finally decided to offer email notices, for families who opt for them. I mean, my son was coming home with piles of paper fliers each week. This is not only good for the planet, but it's good for keeping my desk neater at home.

As you work with your child's school and it comes time to make some changes (understandably, public schools tend to be a little slow on change), why not suggest greener changes?

Parents who want to volunteer at school might maintain a class email list or a private class blog to save the teacher having to send home paper notices. You might even use a free online volunteer scheduling tool like VolunteerSpot, as seen on Cool Mom Picks, to organize classroom and event volunteers.

Some other super-simple classroom ideas include: donating scratch paper, donating recyclable jugs of juice and other snacks with minimal packaging, and donating reusable containers instead of plastic bags.

One mom at my son's preschool made a cloth napkin for each student, which they use for snacks all week (instead of wasting one paper towel per student each day of the week). Another mom voluntarily washes them and returns them on Mondays.

You might even volunteer to give a "green talk" to the class about the kinds of waste and how to reduce waste at school: paper, water, lunchbox, energy.

Also, check out SustainLane's Ten simple, green ideas you can implement in your school.

What eco-friendly ideas have you or your kids come up with to help your school go green?

 

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