Montreal students head back to school, the eco-friendly way

For many students, the new school year is all about "new" — new classes, new teachers, maybe even a new school.

It also means a lot of new school supplies. But are they all really necessary?

Haley Clarke-Cousineau, 17, just graduated from Villa Maria, a high school in Notre-Dame-de-Grâce, and is now a Liberal Arts student at Dawson College. She's also a member of the environmental advisory committee in the town of Montreal West.

She's encouraging students of all ages to think about what they are buying this year.

"I know one girl," she said, "who says she likes back-to-school shopping more than Christmas. Because she buys all new things and gets so excited about that kind of thing." 

But many of those items, Clarke-Cousineau says, are not really necessary. In fact, they are often wasteful.

"I've been using the same pencil case for the last five years," said Clarke-Cousineau, and she tries to reuse what she already has.

"If I were to buy all these things every year, I would have too much stuff in the closet, and they would eventually be wasted."

Some helpful tips

The CEGEP student has a big box of school supplies that she tries to make last. Many people buy too much, she says, because they don't know how much they already have.

"Before people go school shopping, [they] should take their list of school supplies and go through whatever they already have and then just buy what they really need," she said.

Abby Lalonde agrees. An Environmental Studies student at Dawson and the co-president of the school's Green Earth club, the 19-year-old says students, like everyone else, need to be conscious of their environmental footprint.

"I think people need to inform themselves about their consumption," she says.

For example, Lalonde says she buys a huge notebook every fall and uses it for every subject she's studying.

She also says she makes an effort to reuse school supplies from previous years, and tries to buy recycled paper and pencils whenever possible — although she acknowledges they aren't always easy to find.

Packing a waste-free lunch

Students can also make their school lunches more environmentally conscious, both Lalonde and Clarke-Cousineau say. ​

Packing your own lunch is a good place to start.

Lalonde says she tries to make big batches of food at home. She then fills reusable containers to take to school, which helps her avoid having to buy a sandwich covered in plastic wrap or a meal in a Styrofoam container.

Many people also don't realize plastic wrap is not recyclable and just ends up in landfill.

"I know a lot of people come to school with Ziploc bags for lunch and then just throw them out," Clarke-Cousineau says. "They use disposable plastic water bottles instead of reusable containers."

She suggests using refillable plastic containers that can be washed and used more than once. If you insist on using plastic zipper-type bags, she says it's not difficult to wash and reuse them, too.

Lalonde says she often sees people throw things in the garbage without checking if they can be recycled; often, there will be a symbol on the bottom telling you if it's recyclable. "People don't always check. Oftentimes, you can just wash it and throw it in the bin, and it does a world of good," she says.

Clarke-Cousineau says students are often just in a rush, and they haven't made recycling their priority.

"Every little thing makes a big difference, such as packing reusable containers and composting. If everyone pitches in, it would make a huge difference."

Lalonde echoed that sentiment, saying people should try their best to minimize their environmental footprints.

"You have to try your best to make as little an impact as possible — a small impact in terms of the waste you're making and the footprint that you have, but a big impact in the knowledge you can spread and the consciousness you can have."