The whole family canmake a difference and protect our planet on November 15th for National Recycling Day.
The important work of conserving, protecting, and caring for our planet is a big job but we can all help out! National Recycling Day isa great opportunity to learn how to reduce pollution, mitigate climate change, and to participate in programs that make an impact locally and globally.
Recycling is the process of collecting and processing materials that would otherwise be thrown away as trash and turning them into new products. Did you know we can recycle metal, plastic, glass, paper, and even water and human waste! Recycling reduces the amount of waste sent to landfills and incinerators and helps conserve natural resources like timber, water and minerals. This means less virgin material needs to be harvested, processed, manufactured and transported to create new goods. Using the 3R’s—reduce, reuse, recycle—we can be less wasteful, give everyday products a second life, and turn old materials into new ones!
Keep scrolling for videos, games, activities and more to help raise environmentally-responsible kids and learn about how our choices can positively impact the planet!
And remember… recycling helps, but it won’t solve our environmental problems alone.
Creating less waste and more compostable materials,reducing our water consumption, supporting research for new methods of producing eco-friendly goods, and being advocates for keeping businesses and governments accountable for how they treat the environment are all vital ways to help!
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Reduce, Reuse, Recycle!
Sort the Recycling | Peg + Cat
Grades PreK-K
Peg, Cat and Neighbor Lady Viv sort and recycle junk left behind in the field. After watching this video, kids should be more familiar with sorting and understand how important recycling is.
How to Raise Environmentally Responsible Kids
Grades PreK-3
Talking with your child about the environment and ways to help take care of our planet can help your child establish eco-friendly habits that make a difference!
Are You Recycling Correctly? | Things Explained
Grades 3-8
We all want to protect Mother Nature by recycling, but it’s important to recycle correctly. In this episode of Things Explained, we explore commonly accepted items for curbside recycling and items that usually end up in the landfill. We also share ways you can help reduce and reuse to cut back on pollution!
Talkin’ Trash: American Wasteland | EcoSense for Living
Grades 6-12
If you’re an “average American,” you produce about 4.4 pounds of trash per day (the global per person average is 2.6 pounds). The good news is that the average American also now composts and recycles about 1.5 pounds per day. But our recycling still lags far behind other developed countries—and many undeveloped ones. Recycling Across America has a simple plan: to get everyone in the country on the same recycled page so we understand it and can do it better! From confusing bins to “wish cycling,” RAC has solutions to help us clean up our act.
Waste Water Recycling | Fresh Solutions
Grades 6-12
Did you know you can recycle waste water? In this video, we’ll explore how new technology is helping homes and businesses recycle both greywater and blackwater to reduce their overall water consumption.
Games, Activities & Crafts
AJ’s Recycle Rescue Game
Grades K-2
It’s time to recycle and reuse items in this game from Hero Elementary. Your child can help A.J. clean up wood, rope and other items from the park and then reuse them to build new items such as signs and basketball hoops. How many different items can you make?
Make Your Own Paper
Grades PreK-3
Children recognize that recycling is important, but do they know how easy it is to give “trash” a new life? Making homemade paper provides a hands-on example of how we can help save the environment, one tree at a time.
Play Ball Obstacle Course
Grades PreK-3
Celebrate the fun of gravity, height, and motion while you create a recyclable-materials obstacle course. Use the Engineering Design Process to imagine, design, create, test and improve your invention!
Cyberchase | Trash Dash Game
Grades 1-5
Watch as teams compete to score as many points as possible by sorting objects into bins for reuse, recycling, compost, or landfill and completing obstacles along the way. Then try the Trash Dash activity, found in the Support Materials section, at home with your family!
SciGirls | Going Green: Waste Audit
Grades 3-8
This activity, presented by SciGirls, teaches students how to reduce waste, and what happens to the environment when we don’t recycle. Learn more about recycling by sorting a day’s worth of trash from your home or school into different categories and then graphing what percentage can be recycled vs. true trash.