Back-to-School Shopping Beyond Amazon

Back-to-school shopping has unfortunately turned into a seasonal shopping spree. With back-to-school sales, summer Prime Days, and new styles every month, we’re prone to replacing perfectly usable items in favor of what’s shiny and new.

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And the poster child of convenience, Amazon, is making it easier to do so. Ordering in a few clicks, expedited shipping, and receiving a neatly packaged box at your doorstep — it's hard not to default to Amazon for everything, including back-to-school supplies.

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But these yearly back-to-school hauls aren’t just hard on our wallets, but the planet too. A more sustainable alternative is to use what you already have, even if it needs to be repaired.

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Still need a few things? You don’t have to rely on Amazon to get them. There are sustainable and wallet-friendly options for school supplies that help you skip Amazon, align your money with your morals, and connect with your community, too.

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Secondhand Options

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Buying secondhand is a smart way to give products a second life, cut down on waste, and save resources. You can pick up used books, backpacks, lunch boxes, reusable water bottles, and pencil pouches at thrift stores. You can also find pre-loved clothes, refurbished electronics, and gently worn shoes secondhand. Even if you can’t visit a thrift store in person, there are plenty of online thrift options that make it easy to thrift from home. You can also use Buy Nothing Groups to ask your neighbors for stuff that their kids might have outgrown. It’s a sustainable way to get stuff for free.

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Swap Parties

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Instead of buying everything new each year, facilitate a swap with other families in your neighborhood or school. If the word gets around, you could do a swap every season. Swap parties, especially with kids, might sound overwhelming at first. But with some planning and a more methodical approach, it could become manageable. We wrote a step-by-step guide on How to Host a Successful Clothing Swap, which can work perfectly for school supplies too.

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EarthHero

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EarthHero is an online marketplace for sustainable consumer products. It has an entire section dedicated to sustainable school supplies. You’ll find products like notebooks made from recycled paper and soy ink, watercolor paints and crayons made from food-grade pigments, and retractable pens made from recycled, plant-based, and sustainably harvested materials.

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Check out EarthHero->

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Zero Waste Store

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Bamboo rulers, plant-based liquid glue, plantable colored pencils, and recyclable sticky notes — these are some of the sustainable back-to-school supplies that you can find at Zero Waste Store. You’ll also find stainless steel food containers to replace those plastic sandwich bags. If you are looking for a pencil case, check out the Batai pencil bag that is made from 100% Fairtrade Certified organic cotton.

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Check out Zero Waste Store->

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Klean Kanteen

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Klean Kanteen offers a range of reusable drinkware and food containers made from high-quality, food-grade stainless steel, ideal for your kids. Its food boxes and canisters are crafted from recycled steel, making them an excellent replacement for single-use plastic boxes. Do check out its plastic-free water bottle that uses just three materials: sustainably harvested bamboo, 90% post-consumer recycled stainless steel, and food-grade silicone. It has a double-wall vacuum insulation that maintains temperature for hours and comes with a leakproof bamboo cap.

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Check out Klean Kanteen->

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Back Market

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If you are planning to buy tablets or laptops for your kids, you can buy them secondhand as well. Check out Back Market, a marketplace for refurbished devices. It offers used electronic gadgets from a variety of brands. These gadgets come with a free 30-day return and 1-year warranty. Every device also undergoes a factory data reset before sale. Here are some other online marketplaces where you can buy refurbished tech: 9 Top Sites for Refurbished Tech.

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