Teachers Share Their Ideas to Educate Students About Recycling Practices

Teachers were surprised to learn about the do’s and don’ts of recycling during the Sustainability Superheroes recycling workshop on Tuesday October 22, 2019. Vice President of Sustainability and Risk Management of Coke Florida, Erin Black, educated K-12 teachers about what can and cannot be recycled by bringing in various items like egg cartons, plastic wraps and cardboard boxes. She explained how each item should be correctly disposed of, and teachers were shocked to discover the truth. This inspired them to create their own ideas of incorporating this information in the classroom. 

For example, Erin shared that plastic bottles must be thoroughly cleaned with the cap still on in order for them to be recycled. Any recyclable item that is contaminated with leftover food or beverage will not be recycled and may end up in the ocean or in a landfill where it will take years to break down. She also shared that it is best to use and recycle items that have 1’s and 2’s in their recycling symbol as these are the easiest and most likely items to be recycled properly. 

With the teachers learning about the right way to recycle, they provided some of their own ideas to educate students about recycling practices. Use these ideas as inspiration for your next lesson!

Teacher 's Ideas
“Create memes with students and use PSA scripts.” - Elementary teacher

“Teach kids lessons about what can / can’t be recycled and try to get them to recycle correctly.” - Middle school teacher

“Show pictures of what the recycled items look like when broken down.” - Elementary teacher

“Do an activity showing students which items are recyclable and which are not. Use different items and let them guess.” - Elementary teacher

“Use videos from Peg and Cat to introduce recycling to students. Ask and answer questions about informational text to understand key details.” - Elementary teacher

“Organize a recycling drive with students.” - Middle school teacher

“I plan on having my students do further research and make educational posters to educate our students.” - Elementary school teacher

“Have students pick a theme for sustainability and national recycling day. They can create memes.” - High school teacher

“I will use the recycling symbol to determine where items should go. Reset, rethink, recycle.” - Elementary school teacher

“Use new tech resources for creating media for students and staff and how to help students create media.” - Elementary school teacher

“Create a lesson on what can be recycled and why it’s important to recycle.” - Elementary school teacher

“I can have my students bring in items to be recycled and teach them how to recycle properly.” - Elementary school teacher
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“I will use this information in my manufacturing unit for my engineering class.” - High school teacher