Did you know it takes a million years for a piece of glass to decompose? Did you know
that for every kind of paper we recycle we save seventeen trees on this beautiful earth?
And did you know we as Americans throw away two point five million plastic bottles in
one hour? Hi, I'm Debbie Noah and I am here to teach you about how to teach your kids
about garbage and recycling. One of the important things is be sure that you have taught your
children the importance of keeping our earth clean. Young children appreciate that at a
very young age, talking about what litter is, how we shouldn't throw things on the earth,
how we can pick it up and make a huge difference. And I think the huge thing that we need to
teach our kids is that we as one person can make a difference globally. It's not just
a problem here, it's a problem everywhere and it's going to be a problem for our future.
A good way to talk about garbage and where does it all go is take the kids out to the
curb for a little field trip to the garbage truck. And talk about how much garbage is
being thrown away and multiply that by the whole neighborhood, multiply that by the state,
by the country, by the world. And that is a lot of garbage. They need to understand
the importance of we're running out of land for our land fills, and that's where it goes.
Also while you're teaching this, talk about what's biodegradable and what's not biodegradable,
recyclable, what's not recyclable. This is also a great time to teach your kids about
recycling. Recycling is probably the number one thing we can all do to make a huge difference.
At your house, give them that responsibility, that they're the recyclers of the house. Have
tubs, let them sort it, talk about things that are recyclable. Paper of course, magazines,
newspapers, big recyclable, cardboard boxes, those could be sorted in one box. Plastics,
of course plastics are a huge issue and they need to be recycled for sure. Aluminum cans,
let them be the can crushers, put them in the recycle bin, be responsible, get it out
to the curb. And of course glass, if there's little kids you need to be careful with glass.
But, those are the kinds of things that they need to know that they're important you've
empowered them, you've given them responsibility and they are making a difference in making
this world a better place for themselves and for their children and for their grandchildren.
One of the really important things along with the recycling is first introduce, reducing,
reusing and then recycling, teaching kids to look for things that they can reuse; things
like yogurt cups, things that fresh fruit comes in. They can put their crayons in this,
use this for a snack cup, a multitude of things that can be reused. And them think about it.
This glass jar, it can be reused. This plastic bottle, it can be reused. Those sets which
need to be first. Reducing how much we throw away and then ultimately recycling. I'm Debbie
Noah and that's how you teach your kids about garbage and recycling.