Green Schools – Campbell Hall

We here at EcoSmart Products just wanted to give a quick thumbs up to Campbell Hall School in Southern California. Not only are they a proud member of the Green Schools Alliance, but they have taken a significant step in further reducing the waste the school produces by starting to switch over to AusPen markers.

By using our refillable markers they have taken thousands of disposable markers out (made from PVCs), of their local landfills. This small decision will have a huge impact on the school (non-toxic ink is one big component of the AusPen refillable markers) and on the local environment. And you simply can’t underestimate the impact this has on the students, teachers and parents. The students see the environmentally responsible choice the school and teachers have made and they benefit from modeling that behaviour. As well, parents see a tangible commitment from their children’s school to creating a better classroom environment, a safer, less toxic school and one that makes a real difference in the community. It truly is a win-win-win.

So congrats to Campbell Hall on finding another way to be an even greener school, seeking out green school supplies and a great organization in the community.

We wish you all the best this school year. 

Green School Supplies

September is right around the corner and that means stocking up with school supplies for the new term. This is a great time to focus on sustainability, as there are many options for green school supplies, whether you are a teacher preparing your classroom, a student or Mom and Dad buying for your child – try to think as ‘eco-friendly” as possible.

Examples of green school supplies are: reusable lunch bags, staple-free staplers, recycled pens, hemp backpacks (many backpacks are made with PVC), notebooks made from something other than PVC (such as bagase, a sugarcane waste product), or 100% recycled chipboard binders…and of course, if you are using dry erase markers, refillable markers should be on your list.

Our AusPen refillable markers are made from recycled material, use non-toxic ink and don’t end up in the trash can, heading to the local dump.

Remember to think green when you head out for the annual school supply stock-up trip.

Seattle Rejects 20-Cent Bag Fee

As proponents of initiatives that will positively impact the environment, we were disappointed citizens of one of the more “green-friendly” cities in North America rejected an ordinance that would have placed a 20-cent fee on plastic bags. That said, we weren’t overly surprised.

The fact the city went the route of “taxing” their citizens in an effort to reduce plastic bag usage, and were projecting revenue of approximately $3 million from the new fee, plus an aggressive lobbying campaign by the plastics industry to vote it down basically spelled doom. At this point in time, with the global recession and unemployment soaring, a tax to try and change behavior was going to be a very difficult sell.

Unfortunately, this flawed approach and the actions of the American Chemistry Council means it will only be more difficult for other cities to atempt reform in this area. The “if Seattle couldn’t pass it, how can we” thought process is bound to be pervasive – but it shouldn’t. Hopefully those other municipalities will learn from Seattle’s mistakes, and also look at how to better combat the plastic industry’s lobbying money.

As sellers of AusPen refillable dry erase markers, EcoSmartworld.com is obviously focused on reducing all waste as much as possible, particularly plastic waste, which causes so much damage to the environment (google “plastic soup”).

Hopefully this doesn’t discourage other jurisdictions, but rather provides them with the blueprint for a better gameplan.

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Seattle’s Plastic Bag Fee

The petrochemical companies have opened up their wallets and dumped over $1.5 million into lobbying against the referendum in Seattle that would place a 20 cent fee on plastic bags. By all accounts it looks like this is going to be a very close vote, despite the chemical companies (via The American Chemistry Council, the lobbying arm of the plastic industry) outspending the environmental interests side by approximately 15-to-1.

However, I wouldn’t be surprised to see it defeated. While other municipalities have instituted an outright ban, Seattle’s City Council took a different approach, one that would see shoppers paying to use bags. The expected revenue generated for the city is pegged at about $3 million per year. While I see the good they were attempting to produce, the fact they tunred it into a revenue-generating opportunity for the city could be ultimately what brings the project down. Many people these days don’t want to spend two or three extra dollars (which is what the city estimates will be the cost) per week on grocery bags – and The American Chemistry Council has had an impact with their lobbying efforts.

If it does go down the drain, hopefully this won’t have any ripple effect on the momentum around the world with cities banning outright, or putting programs in place to curtail the use of plastic.

We’ll be watching the results from Seattle on Tuesday evening.

Portland State U Passes “Green” Fee

Congratulations to the Portland State University student body for the recent passage of a referendum that will foster greater sustainability on campus.

Several staff/professors at Portland State U have been users of our Auspen markers and this school has always been a leader in the greening of campuses. This latest project is another step for them.

Starting this fall they will institute a $5 per term green fee after the referendum was passed by 72 percent of voting students in the spring. It is expected to generate more than $500,000 in funding for green projects. The allocated funds will subsidize a $10-$15 transit pass for students, create a student-run special sustainability projects fund to support small student-led sustainable projects, and establish a green revolving loan fund to finance energy and water conservation projects.

Great news out of PSU.