Do you know about Staples Canada’s Superpower your School contest? Participating Canadian elementary and secondary schools have a chance to win one of 10 prizes of $20,000 in new technology. Can you imagine what your school would do with $20,000 of tech?! This contest is an inspiration for students, educators, and parents to kick-start positive eco-initiatives in their schools.

ABOUT THE STAPLES CANADA SUPERPOWER YOUR SCHOOL CONTEST

  This is the 10th anniversary of Staples Canada’s Superpower your School contest. Partnering with EcoKids and Earth Day Canada, Staples Canada invites entries from now to January 31, 2020 on the contest website, staples.ca/PowerEco. So don’t wait…surf over now and enter!  

WHY IS THIS CONTEST IMPORTANT FOR OUR KIDS?

  Environmental leadership and responsibility is all around our children right now. From recycling plastics in their lunches to reusing paper for crafts.   Students are eco-leaders every time they put something in the recycling bin. The school community is a prime setting to further encourage kids (and their adults) to grow environmental knowledge and create a sustainable, long term, promise to create a healthier world.  

HOW CAN SCHOOLS HELP THE ENVIRONMENT?

 

• Writing Instrument Recycling. (drop off at store locations) Did you know you can recycle used writing instruments, like pens, pencils, markers and highlighters? I put them in the recycling at home but it didn’t occur to me that this can be done at schools. Your school can create a drop-box for used writing instruments and then deliver them to any Staples Canada store for them to be shipped to TerraCycle for recycling.
• Battery Recycling. (drop off at store locations) I know our school has a battery recycling box for rechargeable and alkaline batteries. I’ve sent used batteries to school myself; making this a school and home eco-friendly solution. Staples Canada has partnered with Call2Recycle for recycling of batteries.
• Electronics Recycling. (drop off at store locations) E-waste can be a big problem for landfills. Staples Canada and partner eCycle Solutions accept recyclable items accepted including cell phones, computers, computer parts and more at stores (excluding locations in Calgary, Alberta).
• School Ink Recycling. Another landfill problem…used ink cartridges. Yuck! Your school can sign up for a free ink bin at canadaschoolrecycling.ca.

$20,000 IN NEW TECHNOLOGY!

  We know that Staples Canada is The Working and Learning Company and an inspiring partner to teachers, students and parents. Heck, I am there often to pick up school supplies as well as shopping for my home office gear. They are certainly my partner. And they are partners to your students as well. $20,000 in new technology could be a game-changer to your school. New computers? Printers? Tablets? Gosh, I know our school would certainly make use of new tech in all their classes. Our schools benefit from this contest and encouraging community-based, eco-friendly, programs benefit our kids’ futures. I think we should spread the word!

Even if you’re diligent about cleaning your empty salad containers and rinsing out metal cans before you plunk them in a paper grocery bag (aka your recycling bin), chances are there are plenty of could-be recyclables that make it into your trash regardless. It’s not that you’re being thoughtless; it’s that, if we’re being honest, knowing what can be reused (and what can’t) is kind of confusing. But it turns out that you can recycle way more than just newspapers and bottles.   No, that doesn’t mean you can just leave your empty makeup bottles and old CDs curbside—that’s because recycling policies vary depending on where you live. Thankfully, there are a few nationwide organizations that will accept the things you can’t just leave in that blue bin, either via mail or at drop-off locations. Here are some of the surprising items that they’ll take:  

Plastic Bags

You try to always remember your reusable grocery bags, but sometimes, you still end up collecting a plastic bag here or there—it happens. The good news is that you can easily dispose of them (and other “plastic film” products like Bubble Wrap, shipping bubbles, and produce bags) in recycling receptacles around your neighborhood. Just search for your zip code at PlasticFilmRecycling.org to find a grocery store or major retailer that accepts them. (For example, Target and Whole Foods both participate). But no matter what, don’t put them in with your other recyclables because they can damage recycling equipment.  

Contact Lenses

Even it’s 1 a.m., resist tossing your contact lenses in the sink or toilet—when you do, they can end up polluting the ocean. The trash is okay, but it still brings them to the landfill. Luckily, there’s an even better solution: Send them over to TerraCycle, an organization that collects recyclable waste (all you have to do is bring it to a drop-off location or, for some items, pop it in the mail). Through its partnership with Bausch + Lomb, the company collects both contacts and blister cases from any brand to properly clean and recycle them.  

Makeup Packaging

Save your mascara wands, and you’ll be saving animals—amazing, right? You can send used, cleaned wands to Wands for Wildlife, an organization that uses them to remove fly eggs and larva from the fur and feathers of animals in wildlife rehabilitation. One thing, though: The group only collects wands during February and October. (Your remaining mascara tubes—and lipstick, eyeshadow, eyeliner, and pretty much any other beauty product packaging—can be recycled through TerraCycle.)  

Toothbrushes and Toothpaste

One billion toothbrushes are thrown away in the U.S. each year—that’s a whole lot of nonbiodegradable plastic. Making the switch to bamboo might be a good thing to consider, but for now, you can send worn-down toothbrushes (and empty toothpaste tubes and empty floss containers) to TerraCycle, which, thanks to a partnership with Colgate, ensures they’re recycled.  

All Kinds of Electronics

You probably already know to trade in or donate old phones and computers, but that’s not all the tech that can be repurposed. Google has its own recycling program for its devices, and Apple will also accept tools like printers, speakers, and keyboards. You can also save those scratched-up CDs and DVDs from the landfill through CD Recycling Center of America. And guess what? Those stacks of VHS tapes in your childhood bedroom can go to Green Disk, too.  

Snack Bags

Can’t knock that afternoon snack habit? Don’t beat yourself up about it. Instead, make a habit of collecting chip bags until you have a good amount to recycle through TerraCycle’s partnership with Sensible Portions, which accepts clean family-size and individual-size bags from any snack brand. See, your Flaming Hot Cheetos obsession can be turned into a good thing after all.

Depois de abrir os olhos, um dos primeiros movimentos da professora de educação física e empresária Ana Lucia Zattar Coelho, 46 anos, na manhã do dia 1º de janeiro deste ano,  ainda deitada, foi pegar o celular. Dali de sua cama, ao publicar um post no Facebook, iniciava inconscientemente uma daquelas “correntes do bem” que parecem viralizar do nada. Em cerca de dez dias, o número de seguidores do perfil Ana Catadora, criado pela empresária em 2018, passou de 1.015 para 3,5 mil no Facebook e de 697 para 9 mil no Instagram, sem nenhum patrocínio. O assunto da postagem? Suas resoluções sustentáveis para 2020.

Estamos lançando uma campanha para o descarte correto de materiais de escrita. A ideia é estimular a reciclagem e, ao mesmo tempo, ajudar o meio ambiente, escolas e ONGs. Essa ação é promovida pela Faber-Castell. Eles custeiam o envio e a reciclagem dos materiais através da TerraCycle (https://www.terracycle.com/pt-BR).Podem ser doados itens de quaisquer marcas e o que for arrecadado será convertido em produtos verdes que vão de bancos de jardim, lixeiras e até mochilas, além disso, a cada remessa de material

在2010年，孩之宝用天然藤条取代了用于防止玩具在盒子里移动的金属铁丝，这种天然藤条在生产和处理过程中对环境的影响要小得多。去年，孩之宝改用植物基的bioPET塑料进行包装，并启动了一项玩具回收计划，让家长们把旧玩具邮寄到泰瑞环保, 由泰瑞环保将其回收制成新产品。

Abaixo dos dois cavaleiros medievais, no logotipo da Faber-Castell, o peso da história e da tradição está na data de sua origem: “Desde 1761”. A empresa alemã é a maior produtora de lápis de cor do mundo, e a operação no Brasil responde por mais de um terço do faturamento global (que foi de 667 milhões de euros no ano fiscal de 2016 e 2017, o último período divulgado pela empresa). Porém, enquanto novos produtos são lançados a cada ano, um pequeno grupo de pessoas está pensando em formas de levar o nome da Faber a outros territórios.

The ‘Simply’ range is the first to be sold in the UK under the Danone masterbrand

Se houvesse um mês para marcar a organização da casa, certamente seria janeiro. A chegada do novo ano desperta o desejo de tornar tudo mais limpo, fácil e organizado. Para debater esse assunto, reunimos, em um bate-papo, duas especialistas: a designer de interiores Mayra Prieto, personal organizer da Organize-se Já, e a arquiteta Heloísa Dallari, professora da Fundação Armando Álvares Penteado e consultora dos princípios do Feng Shui, arte chinesa de harmonizar ambientes. As dicas delas são valiosas e imperdíveis para quem quer começar 2020 de maneira positiva.