Many students are excited to go back to school after two long months of vacation. It is indeed fun to greet our friends, discuss the summer trips, share pictures and most children feel one of the best things of going back to school is that their parents get them motivated with new school materials such as bags, backpacks, lunch boxes, geometry cases and stationery.
Our ability to buy a load of back to school stuff has not got much to do with how much we can afford, but it has to do with how well we try and use what we have. Don’t get carried away by the attractive back to school sales as you could end up buying unnecessary things.
We need to practise ways to restore, reuse or recycle the most common school supplies in order to reduce the load on the environment and your pocket.
Try measures like recycling used paper and keeping spiral notebooks for next year or choosing higher quality where it matters in order to have items for the long term. Lead pencils, colour pencils and crayons do not easily get worn out, so you don’t necessarily need to replace them every year.
Also remember that any school supplies in good condition, from backpacks to blank notebooks, would be welcomed by a number of organisations that help get supplies to children in need.
Be aware that items that are still functioning should be kept and reused. I’m pretty sure that the only thing better than the feeling of purchasing brand new stuff would be helping others experience the same feeling, so do take the initiative to save up the money you could possibly spend buying new things and donate it through organisations for educating children who are less fortunate.
Reducing consumption and giving back as much as you can is part of our social responsibility as well. The future of the next generation depends on our action today. Not to mention, sustainable consumption makes environmental and economical sense.
- The reader is a pupil based in Sharjah.
