Stuffed binders, overflowing folders… as we enter the final stretch of the first semester, everyone’s backpacks are heavy with stacks of packets. It’s hard to not notice how much paper we receive from Lakeside.
While students responding to the Tatler poll estimated they receive anywhere from “0” to “a billion” pieces of paper, the general sentiment was that they received too much, with some even estimating they receive around 8 packets a week. But what exactly goes into this paper process?
At the beginning of the year, Lakeside’s maintenance department typically orders around 200 cases of paper, Facilities Assistant Director Garret Ramstead estimates — totaling to around 1 million pieces of paper. And surprisingly, Lakeside’s able to use up most of it. From Jan. 1 to Nov. 19th, 2025, according to Patrick Graff from the Grotto, the school printed 737,642 pieces of paper.
One of the advantages of paper is that it’s easier to write on, meaning it helps students with annotating and provides a space for students to solve problems, especially in classes like math. However, paper use can have a negative impact on the environment.
In 2025 alone, Lakeside used 82 trees worth of paper, estimates Mr. Graff. Paper mostly comes from commercial forests, accounting for around 40% of wood harvested. Commercial forests grow trees for the specific purpose of being cut down and replanted. These forests are commonly monocultures that grow only one species of tree in large quantities, meaning animals typically don’t live there, so cutting down these trees doesn’t cause additional habitat loss.
However, paper manufacturing takes a toll on the environment due to its water and energy use. “Thousands of gallons per ton of paper puts a strain on local water resources and contaminates wastewater,” explains Demri C ’26, a leader of Green Club. “A lot of paper mills use a lot of energy, which normally comes from fossil fuels. Pollution in the process of bleaching paper releases chemicals which [pollute] the air and water sources.”
Water is typically used in the papermaking process for separating the tree fibers, while bleaching is used to turn the paper white. Any paper with a brightness over 85 means chlorine was added for brightening.
Overall, the pulp and paper industry is the fifth-largest consumer of energy, with the U.S. contributing to 30% of global paper usage. Meanwhile, paper typically takes up 35% of the total weight of waste.
Thankfully, Lakeside is working towards being more sustainable with its paper usage. However, the actions don’t address the sheer amount of paper we use, and efforts such as recycling are flawed due to missorting of waste. For example, Lakeside participates in toner recycling to minimize the environmental impact of the ink we use. “All the toner we use, all the spent cartridges and everything … we work with companies to get those recycled to do the best we can,” explains Mr. Graff.
Additionally, with students being conscious about their recycling, Lakeside can have a smaller environmental impact. “One part that’s hard about it is [that] if paper is contaminated, it can’t be recycled — like paper plates — [generally] if paper can’t be glued or taped, then it can’t be recycled,” Demri said. “And in a lot of places there’s not a lot of [recycling]. Some types of paper can be composted, but a lot of the [time] it goes to landfill.”
At Lakeside, it’s not uncommon to see a bagel or Ziploc bag tossed into the recycling, meaning much of Lakeside’s paper waste isn’t getting recycled. This further pollutes the environment and doesn’t meet society’s paper demand like it would when recycled.
A common alternative for paper waste is to switch to digital files. Unfortunately, doing so is more difficult at Lakeside because only 41% of poll respondents said they had styluses. However, moving more towards more electronic work isn’t impossible. For example, over 40% of students stated in the Tatler poll that math distributed the most handouts.
Conversely, Veda N. ’28, a student at Phillips Exeter Academy, notices an opposite trend at her school. “All the [math] curriculum [such as textbooks] is online, so you have to do [the problems] on paper,” she explains.
While this isn’t feasible for some math classes, in other classes such as Honors Geometry, many students don’t write in the actual handouts printed out by teachers because there isn’t enough space to complete proofs next to the actual diagram. Instead, many opt to use their notebook for solving the solution to the problem. If students are already solving problems separately from the packets in some classes, then it’s not essential for the actual problems to be displayed on paper. Plus, honors math students can break free from their $10.56 packet fines.
Meanwhile, many of the printed readings — especially in Science or History — don’t require annotations, especially since many of them aren’t for homework and are in-class only. Converting these handouts to a digital version could reduce Lakeside’s paper consumption without any harm to students.
Though many teachers are worried about students using AI to cheat on online work, making ungraded and small assignments digital can still have a massive impact on Lakeside’s environmental footprint without increasing the threat of cheating.
Overall, Lakeside’s high paper use negatively impacts the environment in both its creation and disposal. By switching to online work for assignments, we can minimize not only student backpack load, but our toll on the environment.
