Tips for Students who are looking to lessen their environmental impact while also maintaining their grades.
Currently, it is estimated that in the United States, students and their families will spend around $27 Billion dollars on school supplies each year. While this figure includes binders and highlighters, it also accounts for supplies like new clothes and backpacks. Becoming more environmentally friendly becomes quite challenging with the huge “Back to School” marketing campaign run by nearly every major company. Their hope is to maximize sales and sell as much of their product(s) as possible to students beginning the new academic year.
Students are oftentimes left with very few sustainable options, especially since popular brands and products typically have a heavy eco-footprint, are made with plastic and non-renewable materials, and require a lot of natural resources to produce. So how do we avoid unnecessary waste while still getting the supplies we need to have a successful school year? Although there must be a compromise, we can make several small swaps that will help us become more environmentally conscious students without sacrificing our grades.
Go Paperless or Paper-less
Going paperless is a great place to start to lessen your impact. Paper accounts for about 25 percent of the waste put into landfills annually. In a year, the U.S will lose about 68 million trees due to paper production alone and use around 85,000,000 tons of paper (equalling roughly 680 pounds per person). The average household will throw away around 13,000 separate pieces of paper mostly consisting of packaging and junk mail.
Although recycling is an important option, there is a lot to be said about reducing your recycled waste in the first place. Because recycling continues to consume other resources such as water and power, it should only be used if creating waste is necessary. Our goal should be to refuse paper when possible, reduce our need for paper by finding digital alternatives, reuse paper when we do have to use it, and, finally, recycle the paper we do use. This is a principle that applies to all aspects of living a low waste lifestyle.
Listed below are some possible solutions to common problems while trying to avoid paper consumption.
1. Paperless Note-taking:
Traditional note-taking has always been paper or notebook-based but this results in a substantial amount of paper waste. In light of this, many college students have switched to taking digital notes by typing or using other such alternatives. While typing notes may work for some, countless studies have proven the effectiveness of handwriting notes that increase your brain's retention of the material. To accomplish this, there are a few methods to consider:
- The Rocket Book is a reusable
notebook that allows you to take
notes on a paper like material with
a special pen. After you finish your
notes, you can scan the page and
upload the document into your
Google Drive, or equivalent Cloud
drive. Once you’ve saved your
notes you’re ready to wipe the
page off and start writing again.
- Another efficient method is using an
iPad or tablet of some sort to take
notes. You can purchase a stylist
and download a note-taking app
(such as Microsoft OneNote,
Notability, etc.) which will allow
you to download PDFs of your
lectures and annotate /highlight over them, or just take notes on blank, lined, or graph paper. This also allows you to take your notes absolutely anywhere as they are saved to the device and the Cloud. This method also eliminates the need for different pens, highlighters, and rulers because all are included with one Smart Pen. The notes, worksheets, etc. that you accumulate can then be turned into PDFs that you can then submit as digital documents.
2. Paperless Textbooks:
Avoiding textbooks is next to impossible while pursuing higher education, but there are a few ways to avoid the waste associated with them.
Online textbook PDFs
- Before going to the bookstore ALWAYS check to see if your text can be found as
a PDF. Ask other students who have taken the class, look on Facebook or
Discord groups, Rate My Professor, Wildfire, or even ask your professor
directly. Chances are someone has found a PDF, especially if the textbook is a
few years old. The search may be more challenging for more specific classes
or newer editions of a text, but you can always ask your professor if an older
version of the textbook is acceptable to use. (many professors will have the
adjusted page numbers for this exact reason)
Audiobooks
- Audiobooks are a great way to multitask and avoid
paper. Although many students need to read
written words, this option may be right for you.
Audiobooks may also be cheaper than the actual
text and oftentimes you will find some great deals
with companies like Audible.
PDF editing apps
- If you are the type that loves to highlight and take notes while reading, a PDF
editing app is a helpful tool that will allow you to eliminate the waste from
the paper you would have had to print, or the book you would have written
in (it is sometimes harder to sell marked books).
Buy used
- Websites such as Facebook Marketplace, Thrift Books, etc.
have great deals on used books that will prevent you
from needing to purchase new copies from the
bookstore. This is also where you can sell you old
books and get your money back after you have
finished your classes.
3. Paperless calendar / Sustainable options:
Google calendar is a useful digital app to be able to organize and block out events, classes, office hours, meetings, and more. It can be opened from any device with access to the internet and you can change the settings to receive notifications reminding you of important dates and deadlines.
Bullet journaling is another great, sustainable option. If you are someone like me who loves having a paper planner, then bullet journaling is something you need to try. Although you are still consuming paper, you have more freedom to choose which company to support and make sure that they are producing responsibly. Companies like Dingbats, Decomposition, Onyx and Green, etc. have products that are compostable, vegan, made of recycled materials, will donate to a cause, and so on. When buying a blank planner or notebook, you will also avoid contributing to companies that create a large amount of waste by disposing of unsold year-specific planners. After the start of the new calendar year or school year, these planners become extremely hard to sell; instead of donating them, companies destroy or throw these planners away. This is also a huge problem in other industries as well, such as Bath and Bodyworks, Hallmark, etc. who will destroy products that are out of season.
- Google Keep helps you avoid the need for traditional sticky notes. You can open
these notes on anything with an internet connection and organize them how
you would like.
- Your phone's Notes app is also a great tool to write down reminders before you
transfer them to your planner or calendar.
4. Paperless Studying
Many of us are accustomed to using flashcards while studying. As countless studies have shown, this method of review is extremely effective and efficient for memorizing and retaining information, however, it has also proven to be quite wasteful. To avoid this unnecessary form of waste, try to use digital flashcard apps. These will allow you to make more cards at a faster rate, store them all in one place, and take them anywhere with an internet connection (some apps even allow you to download your cards!). Quizlet is my personal favorite.
To avoid making copies of assignments, group notes, etc., try a document scanning app. This will allow you to move written work to a PDF format allowing you to be able to edit, open, annotate, and email with ease.
Using the Google Suite is also a great way to take and share notes with anyone. This is great for sustainability efforts because it lessens the need for printing and is at times more efficient than using Microsoft Word, especially for group projects. (Google Sheets, Google slides, Google docs, etc.)
Eco-friendly pen, marker, and pencil
Deep down, many of us love writing with real pens and markers on real paper. We all know the world won’t change overnight and we may still find ourselves using products made of and packaged in plastic.
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