Laminating paper: reducing or creating waste?
At the beginning of the school year our staff members often receive new resources to share in their classrooms, and there is tons of information to share throughout the building. If we want a poster or flyer to have some durability, we just turn to our handy-dandy lamination machine! But is that really the best choice? Once we laminate paper, we take away the option to recycle that material, and it will be sent to the landfill. On the reverse side, an unlaminated poster may be easily ruined and require more resources to be reprinted multiple times. Lamination could have preserved that poster for a decade, or more. So how do we know which choice is best? Here are some questions to ask yourself:
- How quickly will the information become outdated? A month? A year? 5 years?
- Are there specific numbers or dates on the posters that will no longer be relevant?
- Will the information be posted somewhere out of reach of people passing by?
Thinking through these questions will help you decide if lamination is the way to go. Another option is to avoid lamination, but still protect your paper, by displaying it in a reusable plastic sleeve.
So, next time you have something to hang up in your classroom, hallways, or office, please consider the environment as you choose whether or not to laminate that particular information.
