To laminate or not to laminate?

Laminating. We teachers love it far too much, in fact we're pretty obsessed with it. I am the first teacher to admit that I used to laminate everything in sight. It's super handy for those sticky hands that handle or bend task cards and it just makes everything brighter and sturdier. But have we forgotten one important thing? Plastic.

When we laminate, it coats the paper in plastic thus making it completely NOT recyclable. We hope to make our resources and posters last longer but when we laminate them, these resources actually out live us and last centuries. Every year tons of laminated pages will get thrown out, often having been used only once, maybe twice! They will sit on landfill sites or pollute water ways and oceans.

So what can we do?

Well, for starters, I think we've become so accustomed to following trends on pinterest and instagram that laminating has become one of those trends and habits that we do mindlessly without questioning what it's all really for.

I've made the decision to cut out all laminating. This is not a hard and fast rule. There may come a time where I absolutely need to laminate something and I won't beat myself up over it. But I'd like to encourage us all to stop and rethink laminating. Let's start asking “To laminate, or not to laminate?”

Great resource by ZEROWASTE CLASSROOM

• ·Does the poster on your wall need to last longer than five years? These days we change displays, update teaching practices and try new lessons all the time. Try cardboard backing, caring for it or laminate only if you can guarantee it needs to be kept and handled for many years.

• Is it a display, poster, notice or decoration that does not need to last? Perhaps its a talent show poster or an ad for parent's evening. Definitely don't laminate it, mount it on cardboard instead.

• Can you guarantee that this activity or task card needs to be used multiple times over many years? In this case, you may need to laminate it but I would encourage you to try out reusable plastic pouches or give cardboard backing a try instead. I use old cereal and delivery boxes as my backing.

• Is this item purely decorative, and may be something you tire of after a few seasons? Definitely DON’T laminate.

• If you still insist on laminating something, could you leave names and dates off to make your item more adaptable for future classes?

Let's begin a new trend and #rethinklamination.

Use old boxes to as backing instead of laminating.