Where do you start when teaching kids about recycling in KS1?
Did you know that every home in the UK produces approximately ONE TONNE of rubbish every year – that equals almost 27 million tonnes of waste. To get an idea of how heavy 27 million tonnes is, imagine 3.83 million African elephants!
Planet Earth is an amazing place to live; our oceans, sea life, rainforests, animal kingdom…the list is endless, yet why do we continue to destroy the world we live in? Unfortunately, the rubbish we throw out is increasing due to our constant lifestyle changes and growing population.
Recycling is a relatively new concept; not many Generation X or generations gone before ever probably recycled anything apart from old clothes at a local jumble sale. That is why when we are teaching kids about recycling in KS1, it is taught as a way of life rather than a trend.
Making a positive difference to our planet isn’t going to happen overnight and to increase recycling rates we need to:
- Educate children about what can be recycled
- Collect more materials in recycling bins and learn about what goes where
- Build more recycling centres in our towns
- Find ways of turning recycled materials into useful items
- Demonstrate to our children the benefits of recycling on our immediate environment
- Show how textiles recycling can benefit others less fortunate than ourselves
What support do you need when considering teaching kids about recycling in KS1?
There are many fantastic resources and fun activities that are accessible online when teaching kids about recycling in KS1. Another great offline and ‘hands-on’ way to learn about textiles recycling is to install one of our Kids Just Recycle school branded textiles bins on school premises and encourage children to recycle their unwanted clothing, shoes and household textiles. They can even join our very own Harry the Hippo [add link to amended version of story] in his recycling adventures and learn about where their unwanted clothes end up!
As a community, we simply cannot continue to burn rubbish or bury it in landfill sites, we need to take conscious action to re-use and recycle and help our little people build a big and bright future for generations to come. So, if teaching kids about recycling in KS1 is something you’d like to get involved in, give us a call at Kids Just Recycle.