Recycling is an important exercise, habit, and daily discipline that everyone should follow in order to limit the amount of waste we produce. Getting kids involved from an early age is an easy way to encourage this behaviour in future generations and explain why recycled goods are so popular. Follow our tips below to get your home to reuse and recycle its contents responsibly.
Reduce, reuse, recycle for kids – top ideas to try
Making your initiative to reduce, reuse, recycle for kids easy to implement relies on making it fun for them and ensuring recycling activities are repeated regularly so they become second nature.
Let’s look at each part of the initiative in turn to get ideas of how you can do this:
The reduce portion of reduce, reuse, recycle for kids involves teaching your children why it’s important not to buy in excess or use disposable items that have a short shelf-life. Reward them for choosing reusable products and reducing their waste by turning it into a game. Have them pick out their favourite cup, plate, and utensils when shopping and explain that they need to take care of it to maintain them, Teach them how to wash them with products such as Vim. Always supervise children during this task.
In a similar fashion to the above, the reuse part of this initiative looks at items that are no longer fit for their original purpose but can be reused for something else. Transform old clothes into something new to set a good example and set them a regular challenge to get creative and think of something they can turn an old item into instead of throwing it away. You could even teach them how to repair their toys when they break as a way to encourage this type of thinking.
All kinds of items consumed on a daily basis can be worked into a recycling program – but how do you encourage your kids to get on board? Try having different bins for each type of waste so that they get into the habit of sorting the recycling. Using brightly coloured bins can help retain their attention but you can also award points for each item they recycle instead of throw away and then offer a reward when they reach a set number of points.
These simple activities to reduce and recycle at home are a great way to teach appreciation of our resources to the next generation – but why is it important? And why should you recycle anyway?
As well as helping to protect the planet and reduce the consumption of natural resources, recycling can also help to save you money as you won’t need to replace items as often.