Today I spent most of the morning with my two youngest kids creating crafts for the fall season. We’ve made pumpkins, leaves, hand turkeys, and even a friendly trick or treater or two. In the process of these crafts, we’ve gone through some paper, some glue and some crayons. It got me thinking about whether or not we are being responsible about all of these crafts.
The answer, as you might expect is somewhat. We make use of paper that is already printed on one side, so we are making an effort to get the most out of each piece of paper as possible. we print coloring pages on demand as we need them, rather than buying seasonal coloring books filled with extra pages that the kids won’t color because they aren’t the “good” pictures. And then we recycle the scraps left over, either into new crafts or with the standard recycling.
We don’t go for the fancy chemical filled markers that only show up on the special chemical filled papers. I wanted to teach my children not to draw on the carpet or the table at an early age anyway. We use crayons up until they are bits and then melt those bits to form new crayons (a great craft project in itself).
We choose basic white, washable, non-toxic glue without glitter or fancy chemical additives. We also use other common items in our crafts as part of our recycling, from paper bags to egg cartons to bits of ribbon or thread too small to use elsewhere.
Still, there is a lot more that we can do. We don’t usually start off with paper that contains post consumer content (recycled). Did you know that you can even get recycled construction paper? Here is a link for that http://www.greenhome.com/products/kids/art_supplies/101568/
By the way, opinion differs as to whether or not construction paper can be recycled after it has been drawn upon with crayons. Some say that the wax can clog up certain recycling machines. Others say that it is fine, especially if the crayons are washable. Your best bet is to contain the company that does your recycling pick up.
You can read more blog posts by Mary Ann Romans here!
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