School Supplies

Are you looking for easy ways to improve your schools environmental impact or to reduce the chemcials in your school surroundings?

We are here to help and have a range of options of school supplies of toilet paper and paper towels made from recycled paper as well as eco-friendly cleaning products. For your school functions we offer fully biodegradable disposable cups and plates (no plastic lining) and serviettes made with recycled paper.

We understand that your school budget is tight which is why our range of environmentally friendly products are very competitively priced.

Call us today to discuss your needs and we will be happy to put together a quote for you.

Information on chemicals in schools

Toilet paper and paper towels made from 100% recycled paper

Children are more susceptible to toxic chemical poisoning than adults because their bodies are still growing and developing. During school age years, the nervous, immune, reproductive and respiratory systems of children are all going through significant changes. Asthma Society statistics show that 1 in 4 children in NZ have asthma. Chemical exposure can trigger an asthma attack. These may be your kids, your grandkids or your neighbours kids. Think about the effects on them.

Chemicals in schools

The Department of Labour statistics show that 700 – 1000 workers die prematurely from work related disease in NZ every year. 80% of these deaths are men and 30-40% of these relate to occupational cancers.

Unfortunately when buying cleaning products people often don’t consider the side effects that they may have on their health.

Toxic chemicals can be found throughout school grounds in pesticides, building materials, school supplies, cleaning products, office equipment and personal care products.

School Caretakers will be exposed to chemicals such as: ammonia based cleaners, bleach, disinfectants, drain cleaner, floor and furniture polish, rug and upholstery cleaner, toilet cleaners and window cleaners.

Chemical exposure can have short term and long term health effects. In the short term you may experience any of these:  depression, moodiness, headaches, fatigue, inattentiveness, dizziness, memory loss, nervousness, eye, skin and throat irritation and reduced attention span.

Long term exposure can lead to: cancer, brain damage, respiratory disease, asthma, and immune, nervous, and reproductive system damage.

If you can use a floor cleaner or a toilet cleaner that is non-toxic then why wouldn’t you? Particularly when these alternatives are competitively priced! You really don’t need to pay more to buy ‘green’.

There is a general perception that eco-friendly products don’t work as well as standard cleaning products. The products we sell are extensively used by commercial cleaners throughout NZ. They are proven to work as well as if not better than generic cleaners.

Some products available for you to use are:

Green Earth cleaning detergents are made from all natural ingredients, are non-toxic, biodegradable and best of all they are made for commercial use.  

Green Earth, Green'R and Green Rhino have been awarded Environmental Choice New Zealand Certification meaning they meet strict environmental guidelines. They have no waste water, use recycled packaging, and recycle as much as possible.

These products contain little or no Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) which are emitted as gases from a wide array of products. VOC’s contribute to the quality of the air around us. Examples include: paints, paint strippers, cleaning supplies, pesticides, building materials and furnishings.

You may have cleaners come in and do the cleaning for you. If the school is providing their cleaning products it will be easy to make the change, if they are providing their own products you may like to suggest they change – after all their heath is at risk too.

Unfortunately, while you will be able to convert to some eco-friendly products there are many toxic chemicals that you may still need to use. To reduce the impact of these always read the instructions, use suitable protective equipment and only use the recommended dosage. Everything has an impact on the environment so don’t use more than you need to.

Many of our cleaning products are highly concentrated, and often the dilution rates are 50:1. My suggestion when you are using a concentrated product is to make it up in a 20Litre container so it is ready to use when you are. This avoids wastage. After all using a higher dosage than recommended doesn’t do the job any better and you end up throwing your money away.

In today’s world we also need to consider the impact we are having on the environment around us. After all, children follow from our lead.

Toilet paper and paper towels

According to the Ministry for the Environment 390 million tonnes of run-off enters our marine environment every year. Included in this run-off are pesticides, herbicides and chemicals.

Many paper manufactures are making changes to ensure that their products are coming from sustainable resources. I have been assured by my suppliers of toilet paper and paper towels that their products only come from renewable forests. This means that for every tree that is cut down they will plant 3 in it’s place.

Recently more and more businesses are realising the environmental advantages of using products made from recycled materials. The quality now is far superior to the ‘sandpaper’ toilet paper options we used to have.

So what does recycled mean? I can only talk about recycled paper in terms of the toilet paper/paper towels/serviettes and tissues we sell. One of the product lines we sell is the Earthcare range. This is made from 100% recycled paper, it has a virtually chemical free manufacturing process and the paper is oxygen bleached – it does not use chlorine bleach to whiten the paper. The manufacturers claim that every tonne of recycled paper they use saves 13 trees.

ABC Tissue who manufacture the Earthcare paper have their own plant in Queensland – this also has the advantage of reducing the travel required to bring the products to NZ. At their plant they are able to recycle virtually all their mill waste water and any solid waste material is used as a soil conditioner.

Through these actions, ABC Tissue are able to save around 550,000 trees per annum, 105,000 barrels of oil, 1.3 billion litres of water and 1.72 million kilowatt hours of electricity. In addition, they save 42,000 tonnes of waste paper from going into landfills, where each tonne would have taken a cubic metre of space and emitted the equivalent of four tonnes of greenhouse gases.

You can see that by changing from using standard virgin toilet paper to using paper made from recycled ‘office whites’ you will be contributing to a better environment for us all.

For anyone with drain sewerage problems recycled paper has the advantage of breaking down faster. Because the fibre in the paper is weaker it has a much faster breakdown than standard paper. This means less likely hood of blocked drains!

I’m sure the big question in your heads will be ‘what is the cost?’ It’s all very well trying to change the world ‘one toilet roll at a time’ but if it costs more then it won’t fit your budget!

In the commercial sector manufacturers are aware that businesses can’t afford to pay more for products that get ‘flushed down the toilet’. Prices for recycled paper and cleaning products therefore reflect this.

On the whole I have found toilet paper and paper towels made from recycled paper are cheaper to purchase than standard paper. It is certainly cheaper than the virgin paper products we sell.