Students investigate paper waste solutions

This year, the Broadgreen Intermediate School environment group entered the Keep New Zealand Beautiful Young Reporters for the Environment challenge and produced an article about the deluge of paper worksheets their teachers give them.

Did you know that if we stacked all of the handouts that students at Broadgreen Intermediate School are given by teachers, it is the same height as a four-storey house? We found this information out by counting all the handouts of half the school and multiplying it by two.

In one year, 126,752 handouts were used in the school, which cost $1,267.52. This equals 241 pieces of paper per student.

If every intermediate student in New Zealand got the same amount of handouts that Broadgreen Intermediate students do, teachers would hand out a total of 35,201,906 sheets of paper in one year. One of our teachers does 140 handouts per year (his name is Mr C) and another teacher gives 408.

“Each teacher is different and each classes needs are different,” teacher Whaea Mickey explains.

If every teacher in New Zealand printed double-sided and in smaller quantities, like Mr C, we would save $235,166, which is 67 per cent less.

Over 90 per cent of handouts are glued into schoolbooks. When it is glued into our schoolbooks, that page becomes unusable. It takes eight trees to make the printed side of all of the handouts Broadgreen students get in one year, but it takes 15 trees to make the unused sides of those handouts and the book page it is glued onto.

Did you know that in 2022, 414 million tons of paper was produced? That’s a lot of trees. From 1961 it has increased by 437 per cent.

Did you know that paper production contributes to 13 per cent of deforestation? For instance, Indonesia has cut one million hectares of forest for the development of paper. You might be asking yourself if deforestation is decreasing or increasing in Indonesia. Well, it has increased almost five-fold between 2017-2022.

Does Broadgreen Intermediate paper use contribute to deforestation? Well, we looked at the photocopy paper packet that our school uses, and the paper is certified from FSC (Forest Stewardship Council). It shows to the consumers that all their wood isn’t linked with deforestation and environmental crimes.

But can we trust the FSC, because the Gisborne forestry companies responsible for illegal harvesting practices kept their certification? Clearly things need to change to make sure the FSC can be trusted.

We would like all teachers to take into consideration printing less paper (students could write work into books), printing double-sided, and changing how handouts are glued into books. This helps with less paper waste, and room for schoolwork in books.