Eco-Friendly At School

Weekly Waste Free Tips #1 – Eco-Friendly At School

When you send your child off to school every morning, can you do it with a waste-free conscience? While wrapping up a sandwich in foil or plastic wrap may seem harmless enough, the flow on effects to both the environment and your child’s health may be greater than you’d expect.

If you’re interested in turning your child’s back-to-school experience (or even back-to-uni experience) into a rubbish free one, read ahead for some of the ways Onya products can put you on track to being eco-friendly at school.

Stainless steel drink bottle 

As we all know, disposable plastic bottles represent one of the continuing strains on our planet when it comes to waste. Whether through the waste of the production or transportation process or the carbon footprint, bottled water is not only bad for the environment but bad for your wallet as well.

In addition, there are ongoing concerns the material of these bottles which includes Bisphenol A, more commonly known as BPA. Although many plastic reusable bottles are now labelled BPA free, it is worthwhile to note that the safety of BPA substitute, Bisphenol S, has been called into question by a recent study from the University of Calgary.

This is why we choose to make our drink bottles from stainless steel. Long lasting and sturdy, they can handle whatever you or your child can throw at it.

Reusable sandwich wrap

While it’s nice to include a salad-packed, delicious sandwich in your child’s lunchbox, have you considered cutting out the ongoing costs and waste of disposable food wrap? We’ve designed an easy solution, whether its a Vegemite or a double-decker club sandwich, for eating eco-friendly at school.

Our reusable sandwich wrap cuts out any anxiety over the properties of plastic wrap with its foodsafe PEVA lining, and provides a neat solution to packaging your rolls or sandwiches as well as baked goods… the choice is yours! Did we mention they come in a range of colours?

They’re easy to clean, too – just give the surface a wipe with a damp cloth or hand wash and leave it out to dry.

Lightweight bags and backpacks 

Our bags and backpacks come in a variety of fun colours and designs, with comfy shoulder straps and a practical handle and front pouch. While being durable, they are also really lightweight and include a pocket for the older kids’ phones or MP3 players.

Like our sandwich wraps, our bags are made from a material containing 51 per cent rPET (Recycled Polyethylene Terephthalate), which is produced from recycled plastic bottles. Like the ones you’d be ditching with our stainless steel bottle.

A coffee cup for the ‘grown-up’ ones

For the older kids, particularly those who claim they aren’t kids anymore, eliminate waste from their hot chocolate or coffee treat with a reusable coffee cup. For the 1 billion coffee cups produced here in Australia each year, we are creating in excess of 7,000 tonnes of waste, according to the University of Queensland (UQ).

The reason why most single use coffee cups cannot be recycled, says the UQ’s Sustainability Office, is because of their thin coat of plastic polyethylene. We also happen to know that Aussies of all ages happen to drink more than 400 million coffees in takeaway cups each year. Yikes.

Onya’s coffee cups come in regular and large sizes, and are made from a durable silicone which will keep fingers cool when drinks are hot. So if anyone in your family enjoys a caffeine boost during their studies, this is an easy, stylish way to make an eco-friendly at school change.

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