It’s September again, which means your brother’s hand- me-down uniform and a new protractor.

At least, it used to. These days back to school is a massive sell-fest, with everything from uniforms and pencil cases, to bicycles and laptops, all adorned with demanding special-offer signs.

The back to school season may be a marketing department’s dream, but it’s not so easy on the wallet. One report suggests parent’s spend £683 a year on equipment for primary school children and £1,195 on secondary students. And all that spend-spend-spending makes it a little tough on the ethical parent, too.

Certain supermarkets may be advertising school uniform jumpers starting from £1.75, but one has to question where such items come from. A 2006 report from anti-poverty campaigners War On Want found workers making clothes for George at Asda worked up to 80 hours a week for as little as 5p an hour. Ethical Consumer’s Ethiscore ranked the top three uniforms as follows: Clean Slate school wear, National Schoolwear Centre’s own brand and Adams kids school wear, followed closely by Marks & Spencer’s recycled polyester or organic cotton range.

In these tough economic times, however, not all of us can afford organic fair trade cotton clothes the kids will have grown out of by the end of the term.

So, try www.uniform2.com, an online market place doing a roaring trade in secondhand school uniforms, or get together with other parents from the school to organise a uniform swap shop.

Back to school season is also the perfect time for filling up the stationery cupboard. It’s hard to resist the lure of new pens and pencils and brightly coloured notepads, but it isn’t really necessary to wipe out WHSmith at the beginning of every term.

Round up rogue pens and paper pads from around your home and take a quick stock check of what you’ve got before rushing out for more. All stationers these days carry recycled ranges, so there’s no excuse for buying otherwise.

Your ethically kitted-out kid may have all the latest in fair trade uniform and recycled paper, but it’s no good if they turn up at school in a giant gas-guzzling car.

According to Brighton And Hove City Council’s Journey On website (www.journeyon.co.uk), one of the preferred ways of getting to school is by bike. Some schools offer Bikeability training (previously known as Cycling Proficiency), and sustainable transport charity Sustrans can let you know what’s available in your area.

Finally, it’s not just your child who needs to be green, but the whole school. In Brighton and Hove, 44 of the 61 schools are part of the Eco-Schools programme, leaving 17 trailing behind.

If your children’s school is one of those 17, petition the headteacher to catch up, perhaps even offering a hand if time allows.

Eco-Schools is an international programme to help guide schools towards sustainable status. More than 40,000 schools across 46 countries are following the Eco-schools programme – why isn’t yours?

Useful contacts for a green start to school

Sustrans: www.sustrans.org.uk

Eco Schools: www.eco-schools.org.uk

Secondhand uniforms: www.uniform2.com