Green Tips for College Life
It is quickly becoming that time of year again...your favorite college student will be heading to (or back to) college. As more of us are becoming green conscious, young college students are starting to take part in the movement! Here are some easy ways they too can help make the world a cleaner and greener place!
- Recycle your paper! As a college student, you tend to be a high consumer of paper. Your container for paper doesn't need to be fancy; you can use a cardboard box! Most campuses have a place to deposit your paper to be recycled, so take advantage of that! Just be sure to sort out the newspaper and glossy paper out of the copy type paper and recycle those separately.
- Don't get printer happy! We all know you have to print out papers for professors and classes; but you don't have to print out every single thing you see on the web. If you have a web address you must have, bookmark it instead of writing it down. If you need to print out a rough draft, use the backside of other sheets you have used in the past. This overall practice will not only save you paper, it will save you expensive ink!
- As tempting as it is, stray away from disposable dinnerware. If your student lives in an off-campus apartment, you can get inexpensive dinnerware that can be washed (either by hand or in an dishwasher). If your student lives in a dorm, they are typically equipped with a common kitchen, and they can always go eat in the cafeteria to eliminate the dishes altogether!
- Don't take so many napkins from your favorite fast food joint! As funny as this may be to your student, it is pretty wasteful and does nothing for the environment! One or two is usually enough even for the messiest eaters.
- Use CFL's. As we all know, Compact Fluorescent Light bulbs put off better light and are better for the environment. While these bulbs are more expensive, they save ultimately in utilities and the life span of a CFL is greater than an incandescent bulb. While studying at a desk, consider getting an inexpensive lamp to focus CFL light on your student's homework. Better light = better eyesight!
- Get off your duff! Every campus I have ever been to has been pedestrian and bicycle friendly, so lace up your walking shoes and air up your bike tires! Not only will it help your college student keep in shape, it will save them money by saving gas and the environment by consuming less resources too! If they can do it, consider having them go without a car completely...however that can be hard for college kids in our area (for getting home, ect.). Definitely encourage your student to use the car less than they do!
- Green up your shopping! Whatever you buy for your college student (or they buy), ensure that the products contain some, if not all, recycled materials. Cost shouldn't be much of a worry, as most recycled items cost the same or slightly more than the non-recycled versions. If your college student is cash strapped, help them come up with other alternatives!
- Got water? If you like to carry water with you, ditch the bottled water in favor of a reusable container. They come in all kinds of shapes, sizes, and colors (many are guaranteed not to break!), and you can even freeze water in them to make it ice cold for a warm day on campus! If your water where you are doesn't taste so good, get a filtration pitcher...they really do work!
- Use small binders instead of individual notebooks. The binders will help keep your student organized in each class, and when their class is finished, they can remove their notes and store them in a large binder, separated with tabs (if they wish to). All that is needed then is to add loose leaf notebook paper at the beginning of each semester!
- Be a secondhand fashonista! Encourage your college student to scour secondhand stores for any "new" clothing they need/want. It will save them a bundle (as students are usually cash strapped anyway), and keep our usage of new materials down!
