Top 5 Activities to Educate Students about Waste Management and Recycling

Just one landfill waste product in a recycling bin can contaminate the entire collection of recycling and send it all to landfill! It’s time that all Australians understand the importance of recycling and how to dispose of their waste correctly, and we can make a start by educating our students at school!

In this article, we are going to share 5 engaging and fun activities that teachers can carry out with their students to help teach them about recycling - so that eventually they become experts at knowing which bin to put their waste into.

• Recycling Olympics! Teachers can organise a fun competition among different classes or groups of students, where they have to sort out different types of waste and recycling items in the quickest and most efficient way possible. Make it a fun and interactive activity and offer prizes or rewards for the winning team.
• Waste Art! Encourage the kids to use recycled materials to create art pieces or sculptures that can be displayed in the school yard. This can be a great way to raise awareness about the importance of recycling, while also encouraging creativity and imagination.
• Waste Audit!  Conduct a waste audit in the school yard, so students can see first-hand how much waste is produced and how much of it could be recycled. This can be done by doing a visual waste audit, which involves physically separating the waste into different categories, such as paper, plastic and food waste.
• Personalised Waste Bins! Consider buying waste bins that can be personalised by each student or class, either with their name or with a picture or symbol that represents their interests or personality. This can help students take ownership of their waste and feel a sense of responsibility for recycling.
• Educational labels! Get the kids to create their own educational bin labels. Educational bin labels on the waste bins provide information on what can and cannot be recycled. These labels can be designed to be engaging and informative, using pictures and simple language to explain why it's important to recycle and how to do it properly. This can be a great way to reinforce the importance of recycling and provide ongoing education and awareness.

Waste audits can be a powerful way to demonstrate the impact of their actions and encourage students to take responsibility for their waste. Encourage the students to come up with ideas and solutions to reduce waste and increase recycling in the school yard.

Don’t forget, we print all our signs and labels in house, so we’d always be happy to help you out with designing and printing custom waste and recycling messages for your bins.

We really hope you found these tips valuable and informative. If there’s something different that you’re doing in your school to teach kids about waste management, we’d love to hear about it!