We love organic anything! It’s the bread and butter to our products and our lifestyle. However, what may have never crossed your mind is organic school supplies. As kids, teenagers, and college students head back to school their long list of supplies seems overwhelming and unsustainable. We are showing you organic and eco-friendly options for your back to school shopping!
Backpacks and Lunch Bags
Textiles, like traditional mattresses and clothing, often contain harsh chemicals, pesticides, phthalates, lead, and vinyl. When using a product daily and in close contact with you or your kids it is smart to find an organic or non-toxic option.
EcoGear’s Ecozoo Organic Backpack is perfect for your little ones! They are available cute animal designs: Panda, Pig, Elephant, and Puppy. Ecozoo is made with organic cotton, recycled plastic, and sustainable wood components. They are great for young children just entering school!
Fjällräven's Kånken Kid is the childrens version of their classic backpack. Great for big and little kids alike, this backpack is made under humane conditions and with environmentally friendly textiles. “Vinylon F is the name of the hard-wearing fabric that has contributed to Kånken's popularity over the years. While being a synthetic material – it is made of a fibre called polyvinyl alcohol – it has certain properties that are otherwise mostly found in natural materials.” The Swedish brand, Fjällräven, which means arctic fox, is a supporter of SEFALO and their efforts to preserve the arctic fox and its habitats.
Graduating out of children's backpacks Fjällräven has large backpacks perfect for high school and college students. The company has just improved its classic backpack by making a version made entirely from recycled plastic bottles. Each Re-Kånken backpack contains 11 bottles, which are converted into a yarn that is used for the fabric, lining, and webbing. SpinDye, the process of converting plastic to textile uses, according to Ecouterre, “far less water, chemicals, and energy than conventional dyeing techniques.”
If you opt for a more simple design the Rucksack 101 or Backpack 202 by InconnuLAB is perfect for you. “InconnuLAB is an Italian slow fashion brand founded in 2013 by Nora Dzsida. In our Trieste based home-studio we create unconventional bags by hand, eco-consciously, using only waste materials. Minimizing the impact on the environment is at the heart of the ethically made InconnuLAB products”. Made entirely from high-quality Italian material leftovers, such as leather and canvas, no two of these packs are the same. The canvas (a natural biodegradable fabric) is Water/Oil Repellent, Resistant to mold, stains, salt and U.V. fading. This lightweight bag is designed for everyday use. The bag can fit laptops, books, personal items, clothes.
You can also buy beautiful lunchbox, lunch bag, and lunch totes organic! Fluf is a Canadian company that offers organic cotton lunch bags. They have snack packs, zippable totes, and open tote style bags. Fluf's reusable packs are the best replacement for disposable plastic bags. Made with certified organic cotton and a tested food-safe, water-resistant lining (free of BPA, phthalates and lead), Fluf snack packs are healthy, safe, and stinkin' cute!
Along with a healthy lunch you have to keep hydrated. Klean Kanteen produces 100% recyclable, high-quality, food-grade, stainless steel water bottles and insulated mugs that are BPA free and sustainable. Klean Kanteen raises awareness to kick single-use habits and choose healthy, sustainable products that are better for you and the Earth.
School Supplies
Paper products consume a large amount of trees and natural resources, so opt for recycled products. Here are a few organic, sustainable, or eco-friendly options. The popular Decomposition Book by Michael Roger contains 100% post-consumer-waste recycled pages; and soy ink printing, which contains fewer VOCs (volatile organic compounds) than regular, petroleum-based ink and is also easier to recycle.
Tree-Free Journals are made with recycled materials and banana or hemp fibers. It is a truly environmentally-conscious paper purchase.
Your writing tools also don’t go unnoticed! TreeSmart creates pencils and colored pencils from rolled-up recycled newspaper, which reduces wood consumption and keeps paper waste from landfills, and latex-free and smudge proof erasers. Meanwhile, Pilot’s B2P pens are made with 86% total recycled content and 83% post-consumer recycled plastic bottles.
The Ultimate Green Store is stocked with eco-friendly miscellaneous products for school. They sell recycled paper clips, recycled rubber erasers, coccoina non-toxic glue sticks, biodegradable non-toxic ice packs, and eco-friendly laptop sleeves.