Recycle, Reduce, Reuse! It’s easy and fun to get kids involved in the many small things we can do everyday to help our natural environment thrive. First, it’s important for kids to understand the seriousness of climate change and the importance of making little changes to the way we do things. There are a few (outdated) things we learned back in school, when recycling first came of age, like:
- Plastic is bad – paper is good!
- Collecting aluminum cans pays!
- Dumping motor oil is a criminal offense!
- Never use Styrofoam! It takes 500 years to break down in a landfill.
But recycling has come a long way in the last decade and things aren’t so black & white. Some important things to note are:
Plastics, including grocery bags, can be recycled these days.
Types of plastics are numbered by recycling experts: for example, plastic
bags are plastic #2 and #4, requiring different machinery and processes to
break down.
Plastic bags are often controversial.
In some communities, they have been banned altogether. Your best option
may be specific recycling programs that focus exclusively on them. Many
grocery stores collect plastic bags while some city recycling programs
offer plastic bag pick-up or drop-off programs.
Paper, perceived as environmentally friendly, is actually more
complicated to recycle than you might think.
Shredding paper reduces the quality and subsequently the value of the
paper. Shredding paper turns it from high grade (letterhead and printer
paper) to mixed grade, which includes telephone books and magazines.
Paper food containers pose another problem.
Your pizza box may have a recycling symbol on it, but the grease may be an
issue for recycling machinery.
Many liquids can be handled at your recycling center.
Used motor oil is also accepted when placed in its original container or an
empty plastic 1-gallon milk or water bottle.
You can even recycle Styrofoam.
Today, Styrofoam (Plastic #6) can be recycled with special machinery. Check
with your local recycling center. Sent to the landfill, it does take half a
millennium to decompose.
BUT
No recycling program works more effectively than reducing waste and
reusing or re-purposing items as appropriate.
Parents can play a pivotal role by changing their family culture to one of
reducing waste through these simple suggestions. Reducing waste can be fun
and healthy.
- Buy a stainless steel water bottle for every family member. Bling
them with notions of your choice as a family art project. While
decorating them you can discuss how plastic water bottles are
wasteful. You can even help them do the math. - Start a home composting bin and, in time, plant a tree using the
compost as fertilizer. - Eliminate grocery store bags from your lives by purchasing and
using canvas bags for all shopping. - Go paperless on all your accounts. Your daily mail call will be
reduced, too. Let your kids know about the change you made. - Cut up old clothes for cleaning rags instead of using paper towels.
Get the kids involved by having them cut the rags into fun shapes. - Investigate the use of natural cleaners. Kids might enjoy making
the mixtures and actually help with the cleaning. Several websites
can give parents ideas.
Resources
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