The importance of recycling doesn’t even really need to be explained; leaving the world a better place for our next generations is our duty and is impossible without recycling. But it’s not enough to just recycle yourself, it needs to be a family and community effort. So, it’s important to encourage recycling at home and that our families make a joint effort towards the improvement of the ecosystem.  How though? Well here are 7 ways to encourage recycling at home.

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Reduce your waste

The need to recycle arises only once you’re ready to throw something in the trash can, but that’s not the only way to help the environment. It’s very important to reduce waste in the first place.

• Make it a house rule to not throw away anything until it has been used to its fullest potential
• If something is broken, fix it instead of throwing it away
• Teach your kids to use both sides of a page in a notebook
• Donate the things that you don’t like to charity instead of throwing them away. Give every item a valid chance to be used by the community before its tossed into the trash can.

Practice re purposing

Another way to approach conservation and reduce waste is to reuse and re purpose used items instead of throwing them away right away.

• You could take your used-only-once bubble wrap and Amazon boxes to a locally-owned mailbox business for them to reuse for outbound shipping
• You could practice up-cycling, which means to reuse something by making something new out of an old item with a little creativity and a few craft supplies.

Buy recycled things

Whatever we throw into the trashcan was once bought by us. So being conscious while shopping is critical to recycling. By buying already recycled things, not only do you encourage the practice but also reduce the consumption and production of the new materials.  That can encourage your family to do the same.

Make it simple

Kids cannot exactly be expected to understand why it’s so important to protect the planet and practice recycling. So it’s best to make it simple for them if you want to get anywhere with it. Make recycling seem easy.  A simply designated trash can for recyclables would be enough for your home. You can easily make one and keep it in a high-traffic area of your house so that they don’t forget.

Keep it interesting

Young kids often don’t understand recycling and its impact on the environment, so getting them to do what you want can be quite a struggle. But you can keep them interested if you keep things interesting, happy and colourful.

• • Place brightly coloured and marked recycle bins around the house to attract their attention and help them remember
  • Educate them on how to segregate waste properly
  • Sit and make some crafts with them by using old items and also buy them science gift kits involving recycling to help them learn and still have fun
  • Instead of trying to explain recycling, show kids the effects of not recycling when you see plastic on the road or the beach and tell them that such problems could be solved by recycling.

Set clear goals

Instead of trying to drill recycling into your family by continuous lecturing and nagging, set clear tangible collective goals for the family. For example, set a maximum number of bags of trash in a week for your house, a minimum number of reusing items in a month or a maximum number of packaged items that can be bought in a week. At the end of a good month, treat the family to homemade burger or their favourite dark chocolate to keep them inspired and motivated.

Share the rewards

Divide up any sort of monetary benefits from the recycling between the family members. If you get a refund for recycled bottles or cans, or if a recycling centre offers payment for what you bring in, be sure to share it up between the kids to make them hungrier for the recycling on their own to get the extra income.

So these were 7 tips to encourage recycling at home! Every family is different, so don’t shy away from making your own innovative ways of recycling. Simply encouraging your family and leading by example can go a long way in contributing to the cause of promoting and practising recycling.                                       

Author Bio:

Ross is a blogger who loves to write especially in the Science vertical. He has written many informative blogs in other subjects areas too including personal development and unique gifting blogs etc.  Thanks to Ross for sharing this informative article.