This week I’m going to try and cover as much eco-’back-to-school’ as possible, and believe me, there’s a lot of ground to cover. It may be difficult to go to Office Depot and find all the eco-friendly products you want for your kids, but there are a lot of alternatives out there. First a fun one…Remember those fruit smelly pencils? When you were done with the pencil point, you took it out and moved it to the bottom and a new one would appear? They were all plastic and lead and are probably still sitting at the bottom of a landfill…well, fast forward and taa-daa - Smencils!

We love Smencils for so many reasons (besides the fact that they sound so nerdy and back-to-school!) These SMElly peNCILS are made out of recycled newspapers, biodegradable erasers, and recyclable packaging - they wrap newspaper around a standard #2 core (so yes, you can take the SATs with them), and are dipped in wonderful flavors. The pre-scented Smencils come in flavors like bubble gum, cherry, orange, and watermelon, and their smelly-ness is guaranteed for two years! You can even make your own Smencils with the Home Kit! Great for recycling projects at home and in the classroom…Smencils even has a fundraising program, to spread the message of good-smelling recycling without the added calories (M&M’s, anyone?).