America Recycles Day

imagesAmerica Recycles Day is a great opportunity to review recycling in your school, especially IMG_4309the cafeteria. Here are a few simple things you can do to easily celebrate with your entire school!

  1. Review recycle signs in classrooms and cafeteria. Are they obvious with pictures? Cafeteria Recycle Sign Example
  2. Recruit students to monitors stations to help classmates recycle the last 10 minutes of lunch. Kindly remind students what can and cannot be recycled. Cafe Recycle Monitor Signup_EXAMPLE
  3. Ask noon aides to announce student volunteers at lunch.  (Kids tend to forget what day they are supposed to volunteer.)
  4. Conduct a Recycle/Trash Assessment! Have volunteers weigh recyclables/trash after lunch for the week. Graph results to communicate results. Recycle:Trash Assessment_SPREADSHEET
  5. Make morning announcements to encourage recycling. Here is a script. Recycling Tip of the Day_ANNOUNCEMENT
  6. Hang posters around school to spike curiosity. Print on green paper. America Recycles Day Sign
  7. Let your staff know what’s going on. Here is a sample letter in word so you can adapt to your specific event.America Recycles Day Letter to Staff2-EXAMPLE
  8. Promoting “what is and is not” recyclable can help students with confusing materials. Have your team make a sign with real examples. Or print this Cannot Recycle Sign
    Recycle Tree.jpg

    Have students pledge to recycle and add their leaf hand print to your tree.

    Cannot Recycle Stick

    Understanding what’s not recyclable helps end confusion.

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Good luck! Share with us your program!