Staples Wants Your Back-To-School Shopping Trip to Include Recycling

New school supplies are expected to run just under $600 per child this year. But what happens to all of the leftover supplies from the year before? Many end up in landfills, including over half a million pounds of crayons. Staples is making it easier for consumers to keep these often difficult to recycle, mixed material items out of the trash. 

“Staples is one of the only retailers in America where you can recycle your backpacks and school supplies for free, creating a convenient and easy way to get rid of old school supplies while also making a significant impact on our environment,” Brian Coupland, senior vice president of merchandising at Staples, told TriplePundit.

Recycling school supplies that can't go in curbside bins

The office supply chain already has an extensive in-store recycling program that accepts a variety of items — from AirTags to webcams — for free. Its expansion into backpacks and school supplies is part of a partnership with Close the Loop, which helps companies implement programs that work towards creating a circular economy. And participating in the program comes with a helpful bonus for those who want to do some back-to-school shopping: They’ll get $10 off purchases of at least $30.

School supplies are accepted in all Staples stores, Coupland said. The items that can be dropped off include an array of supplies that can’t be placed in curbside recycling bins like backpacks, lunch boxes, crayons, regular and colored pencils, pens, markers, binders and more. Glue sticks and glue bottles can be brought in for recycling, but they have to be empty. Tech supplies like calculators, earbuds and USB cables are also accepted. But scissors and other sharp items are not eligible. 

Tailoring the process to the item  

“First, we consolidate all collected items for recycling at our distribution centers and then send them back to our recycling partners,” Coupland said. “School supplies are sorted, then go through the appropriate recycling process, ensuring all supplies sent in for recycling stay out of landfills — helping to facilitate the circular economy of these items.”

This means some supplies are treated differently than others. For example, backpacks still in good condition are donated to organizations that distribute them to people in need, such as victims of natural disasters and people experiencing homelessness, Coupland said. Crayons, on the other hand, are sent to The Crayon Initiative. 

“They take the crayons we collect, melt them down, make new crayons, and then donate them to children’s hospitals across the country,” Coupland said. “It’s great to keep crayons out of landfills. It’s even better to get new crayons in the hands of children who need them.”

Expanding an already successful recycling program

Staples’ original recycling program dates back to 2012. It boasts 8,000 tons of recycled technology, 23 million recycled ink and toner cartridges, and 10,000 tons of recycled paper. So there’s good reason to think the program will also be successful with school supplies.

“As soon as Staples announced backpack and school supplies recycling we had customers coming in with their supplies to recycle,” he said. “The response and feedback of the offering has been overwhelmingly positive, and we can’t wait to see how many backpacks and school supplies we can collect together.”

Scaling up depends on partnerships

“It’s important that we give consumers easy and accessible recycling solutions for many hard-to-recycle items to help keep as much waste out of landfill as possible,” Coupland said. This self-imposed extended producer responsibility helps take some of the onus off of the consumer by making recycling simple and offering a financial reward. In doing so, it encourages increased corporate environmental accountability. 

While it is feasible for other companies to develop similar in-store recycling programs, scaling them depends on effective partnerships — like Staples and Close the Loop — to create a complete solution that doesn’t burden the consumer, Coupland said.

This model isn’t limited to school supplies, of course. Another retailer harnessing the power of partnerships to offer in-store recycling is PetSmart. The pet supply company is piloting a dog toy takeback program at select locations in collaboration with West Paw.

Reduce, reuse, then recycle

Naturally, not all school supplies need to be replaced every year. While some students might push back against reusing last year’s supplies, doing so presents an excellent opportunity to learn about environmental responsibility. Likewise, for supplies that are too worn out to use again, recycling offers another important lesson.

“This is also a great way to educate our young learners on the importance of responsible recycling in a fun and rewarding way,” Coupland said.