ReBinder Green School Supplies Review

ReBinder was started in 2003 with a triumphant goal of creating an alternative to vinyl binders and CD jewel cases that cannot be recycled. Today, Rebinder makes the world’s only Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) Certified line of binders (the ReBinder). Their binders, CD sleeves, journals and presentation/event materials are all made from post-consumer recycled materials!

ReBinder products deliver on their sustainability promise.
Together, with their customers, ReBinder has saved:
* Millions of pounds of greenhouse gases
* Millions of gallons of water
* Tens of Thousands of trees
* Tens of billions of BTUs of energy
* Hundreds of tons of solid waste
In fact, they have a counter on their site that estimates the pounds of green house gas saved from entering our environment by the purchase of their products.

I received a Green School Supply Kit for review from ReBinder. These kits include the following items:
* (1) 1.5” ReBinder recycled 3 ring binder
* (2) ReBinder replacement covers
* (6) RePouch recycled slash pocket dividers
* (6) RePocket eco-friendly pocket folders
* (2) ReWrite 8x10 recycled notebooks with lined paper
* (2) ReWrite 8x10 recycled notebooks with graph paper
* (2) ReWrite 5x8 Recycled notebooks with blank paper
* (3) ReMark eco-pens
* (6) ReSleeve recycled CD sleeves
* (3) RePlay recycled CD cases

My daughter is going to kindergarten next year but I knew that most of these items would be great for my home office. So we checked out the goods together.

I immediately loved the ReMark pens! They say on each one of them, "the pen made from plants- not plastics." I believe it is very important to try to reduce our plastic consumption especially considering the plastic build up in our oceans and that degrading plastics are leaching potentially toxic chemicals such as bisphenol A into the seas, possibly threatening ocean animals, and us. I love that ReMark pens are truly eco-friendly. ReMark pens look and feel like plastic, maybe a bit lighter than most, but they are made from plant resins from sustainably harvested wood and organic cotton! You can even send them back to ReBinder and they'll "upcycle" them and make new pens! Pretty amazing to me!

It was easy to see the value of using the recycled CD sleeves and cases in place of plastic jewel cases. Now, if the music industry will just catch on... Again the recycled folders and dividers are a no brainer- just as good and way better for the environment!

The ReBinder itself, which is the name of the eco-friendly binder is quite clever. It came with two replacement covers! For home office purposes, I don't think that I will be needing the covers any time soon because they are very durable. However for school purposes of toting them around in backpacks with book, I can imagine that the covers will come in handy! I wondered if replacing the covers would be tricky but it is really quite simple.

The ReWrite recycled notebooks came in three varieties- all of which were great. These notebooks all remind me of the black and white composition books I used in lab and english classes in high school because they do not have the metal spiral. They also do not have the 3 hole punch. They would make great journals. The ReWrite 8x10 recycled notebooks with lined paper were college ruled so they are great for me as are the graph ReWrite notebooks and will get alot of use in my home office. They all have recycled paper and ReWrite stamped on them which I think is nice.

The smaller ReWrite 5x8 Recycled notebooks with blank paper are perfect for my kids. The one draw back about these supplies for my daughter was that,"they're all plain brown!" However, this gave me the opportunity to talk to my daughter about recycled goods and to explain that meant she could decorate them any way she wanted. This got her really excited and she chose paint from the crayon, paint, and sticker options that I offered. She and Leo had a great time individualizing their notebooks. They are really nice quality and will make great artwork books. I am thinking of doing number books with them where they write one number on each page and color something and I write a caption. They would also be great for pressing leaves and flowers! My kids loved that they can create their own book!

I loved these ReBinder supplies because they are just as good as other school and office supplies but you feel great knowing that they are eco-friendly and that as you make a difference maybe it will rub off on your children, their friends, and your friends!

You can win your very own ReBinder Green School Supplies Kit! Please enter the giveaway here through noon CST on Janurary 25, 2010.

The opinions I expressed are my own and those of my children. ReBinder did NOT provide me with any monetary compensation for this review. They did provide me with a free school supplies kit in exchange for my honest opinions.