Idea Sharing

How Can I Recycle This? (www.recyclethis.org.uk) is a British blog that has readers submit reuse questions for everyone to respond to. People can send in a request for ideas for reusing old gloves, bubble wrap, banana boxes, and just about anything else you can think of. The authors of site and the other reads submit their ideas and personal pictures of ways that they’ve either reused something themselves or seen it reused somewhere else. It’s fun just going through the site and seeing all of the imaginative ways people are reusing everyday junk.

You can start your own idea-sharing effort either in your classroom or on a hallway bulletin board. Students (and staff) can share pictures and short descriptions of how they are reusing things.

For the Classroom

By now, you are probably starting to understand that reusing is all about creativity. The ability to reuse something is only limited by the imagination. The more reuse projects you promote with your students, the more they’ll begin identifying ways to reuse outside of the classroom. They’ll begin seeing the second life in everything.

Create-a-Card

Everyone has lovely holiday and birthday cards they hate to throw away. At the beginning of the year, send out an alert for parents to save their old holiday and birthday cards. Create postcards by cutting off the side with the picture (if there’s no writing on the back) and using the blank side to create a postcard-like writing area and address area. Sell them at reuse sale at your school or other community gatherings. When you send postcards, you don’t have to use envelopes. This saves paper and energy costs!

Another good reuse project for older kids who can handle scissors and an iron safety is creating a reusable fabric gift bag. Ask parents for scrap materials donations for your classroom. Each child should cut out two 12” by 12” pieces. (Preferably, use borrowed pinking sheers from parents). You can precut the square patterns out of cereal boxes to make it easier for the kids, or challenge their measuring abilities by having them draw it on the fabric themselves. Instead of sewing together the pieces, use glue tape or fusible webbing to iron the seams together (both are available at craft or fabric stores). Iron three sides together. On the open side, punch holes to weave in one long piece of yarn. Pull the two ends of the yarn together around the gift and create a nice bow. This can be reused over and over again.

E – SOURCE

The School and Community Reuse Action Project (www.scrapaction.ord) collect reusable materials from business and distributes them to local school. It projects the environment, provides valuable resources to schools, and inspires creative reuse of a wide variety of materials. While it is only a local organization, its website is sure to motivate you to find new opportunities for reuse.

Notebooks out of Cereal Boxes

Have your students bring in empty cereal boxes from home. Collect paper that has only been used on one side from classrooms and staff offices. Pile the paper so that all the sheets are facing the same direction, blank-sides up. Cut the cereal box so that it is about one-half inch longer and one-half inch wider that the paper. Use a three-hole punch on all the pieces. Lay the cereal box pieces picture-side out in line with the stack of paper. Use metal rings from a craft store or even strong yarn or twine to bind all of the pieces together. You can make alterations to this projects by using small cereal boxes and cutting the paper smaller. You can use old album covers or any type of food packaging that is a stiff cardboard or card stock. These notebooks make good sketch pads to take on hikes for drawing pictures of the wonders of nature.

If you have magazines that need organizing in the classroom library, simply cut off the top of the cereal box with an angle down the side (a la the magazine organizers you by at the store). Voila! Organized.

Swap It

Children are natural swappers. Ride a school bus or visit a playground and you’ll see them trading candy for bouncy balls or other small treasures. Ask your students if they’ve ever done this and have them share with the class what they traded. Then, announce that you will be having a Swap Meet in your classroom (send a letter home to parents, too). Have your students bring in items from home that they no longer want, like books and toys. Check all items for cleanliness and appropriateness. Decorate a large box for all of the items.

When students do well on tests and homework assignments, reward them by allowing them to select something from the swap box. Remind parents throughout the year that gently used toys and books are always welcome donations for the classroom swap box.

E – ALERT!

You may want to make your swap box donations anonymous or trade with another classroom. You don’t want children feeling bad if they have nothing to offer. Likewise, you don’t want children to feel awkward for wanting a classmate’s old toy. You never know how kids will respond, so make sure it’s a respectful process.

School Projects

Get your whole school on a reusing kick by sparking everyone’s imagination with a few simple ideas. With everyone working together, you can keep mounds of materials out of the landfill.

Reclamation Station

Find a spot in your school that is easily accessible and visible to everyone. Use medium-sizes garbage cans, recycling containers, or large boxes to set up a reclamation station. Make labels for each container so that the materials are organized. You can have a spot for cardboard boxes (flatten them but don’t damage them so people can simply fold them back into shape reuse). You can also collect other materials such as clean yogurt tubs, broken crayons (they can be melted into new ones), gloves and mittens that have lost their partners (sew and stuff into little animals or puppets), other textiles, wrapping and tissue paper, and whatever else you want to reuse. Teachers and students can regularly visit the reclamation station to find materials for crafts and other projects.

One Person’s Junk Is Another Person’s Treasure

Make one of your annual school fundraisers a schoolyard sale. Ask parents, staff, and neighbors in the community to donate gently used clothes, toys, books, tools, household goods, jewelry, and whatever else they may have lying around. To facilitate the process, you can request that they put a price tag on each item they donate. It saves the sale coordinators an enormous amount of tome, and it also ensures that you are asking a fair price for the item. Make it clear that the items that do not sell will not be returned; instead, they will be donated to a local charity or thrift store.

Prepare for the sale by promoting it widely in school announcements and community newsletters or bulletin boards. Don’t have it on a holiday weekend. Make plenty of readable, attractive signs for the day of the sale. Make sure you have plenty of volunteers, snacks, and drinks to sell to customers, and extra-extra small bills and coins for change. You’ll also need calculators for totaling purchases and piles of plastic and paper grocery bags (reused, of course!).

E - SOURCE

Choose to reuse: An Encyclopedia of Services, Business, Tools, and Charitable Programs That Foster Reuse by Nikky and David Goldbeck has tons of creative tips and tricks for breathing new life into old items. The book is printed on recycled paper with an environmentally friendly printing process.

Field Trips

Learning about reuse in the community may take some research. In larger urban areas, there may be local artists that reuse items or even larger entrepreneurs who reclaim materials and then sell them (this is especially common with building materials). Wherever you are, the following options should fit the bill.

Behind the Secondhand Scenes

Arrange to take your students to a local thrift store for a behind-the-scenes look at how it a works. Where do the items come from? How does the staff prepare them to be sold? How do they price them? What happens if something doesn’t sell for a very long time? Wander around the store and see what types of items are there. How are they different from a regular store? Are the prices different? Is the packaging different? Does anyone see something they own? Does anyone see something they would want to buy?

For older students, you can add to the experience by visiting a regular department store first. Write down the prices of some common items you’ll likely find at the thrift store, such as blankets, sheets, T-shirts, jeans, books, and plates. You can also ask where the items came from and where they end up if no one buys them. Examine packaging, too. Then go to the thrift store and compare prices, packaging, and the lifecycles of the same products. Ask where items came from, where they go, and how local products fit into the reuse equation.

ESSENTIAL

Whatever you are doing and wherever you go, talk about where things come from and where they go. Embed in your students a habit of thinking of the big picture of stuff by repeating it as much as possible. This goes for activities that involve reducing, reusing, and recycling.

School Scrap Sculptures

Take your students to the local scrap or junkyard where old automobiles go to the priced apart by consumers looking for odd parts. In preparation, you can check out Crashed, Smashed, and Mashed: A Trip to Junkyard Heaven by Joyce Slaton Mitchell and Steven Borns to learn all about why there are junkyards and what happens there. It’s appropriate for ages three to ten. After reading the book, have the class prepare some questions they’d like answered at the junkyard and list specific features they/d like to explore.

At the junkyard, have students pick out some random pieces for making a sculpture for the schoolyard. You can ask for monetary donations from parents prior to the trip or request in advance a donation of scraps from the junkyard owner. Select several prices to bring back to the school. Have the students arrange the materials in different ways to make a sculpture. Use a nontoxic glue or wire to affix the pieces together. You can also ask around to see if someone who knows how to weld can help with the project; welding it will certainly give the most permanence. Select a site on the school property, perhaps in a newly laid school garden, to permanently place the sculpture. You can dig a small hole, fill it with a little concrete, and place the sculpture in it. To give the process a little extra oomph, have a quick dedication ceremony and ask the principal to say a few words and make a commitment to reuse and protect the environment.

E – ALERT

When dealing with any reusable materials – especially metal scraps – be particularly aware of sharp edges. You may want to have your students include a pair of work gloves in their school supplies. Between working with reusable materials and getting dirty with gardening and the other activities in this book, it’ll be an investment in safety.

Take a Look at Better Books

One of the best reuse businesses in the world is a library. Make a list of questions about reusing books. Where do the books come from? How many times does one book get used? How do you repair worn books? What happens to the books after they are too worn for the library? Take a walk to your school or community library and ask to visit with the librarian. Go through your list of questions.

Human Health

Reusing materials is good for the planet, saves money, and protects human health. All these fantastic benefits in one fell swoop, but where’s the connection? Step back to look at the big picture and you’ll see how it helps.

Reusing Reduces Pollution

Every time reuse something instead of buying something new, you eliminate all of the pollution created when something new is made and shipped to you. Reducing pollution means cleaner air to breathe, cleaner water to drink, and healthier people. Many new items also release chemical gases (that “new smell”) that can be bad for your health, especially if you have asthma or allergies. When you by something used, it’s often already “off-gassed” most of the worst chemicals. Can you think of things that have a strong “new smell”? New cars, PVC shower curtains, plastic toys, carpet, and many other products all off-gas chemicals when there are new. That is why people often complain of headache and sore throats in a new house or new building.

Don’t Abuse Reuse

Some things are not meant to be reused and can actually endanger people’s health if they reuse them. In most cases, these items are plastics that are used for food and beverages. Plastics are generally made of oil and synthetic chemicals. If the plastic becomes worn scratches or heat, some of the chemicals can be released into the beverage or food. Plastic water bottle shouldn’t be reused for drinking water. They quickly break down and end up polluting whatever drink you’ve put into the bottle. A healthier option for both and the Earth is to buy a water bottle that is meant to be reused, like a stainless steel one. They’re more expensive, but they last for years. Over time you save money by not buying single-use plastic water bottles. If you do buy a plastic bottle of water, get creative and use it for a flower vase, a bird feeder, or a container for collections of rocks or marbles. You can also fill it with water and keep it in the freezer to use on bumps and sprains or to keep your food cool when you travel.

There are literally tons of old tires waiting to be reused, and they have found new lives as ground covering around playgrounds and crumb infill for artificial turf. Many people are excited that they can teach kids about reuse and protecting the environment while providing a durable, low-maintenance ground for playing on. However, the tires have ingredients that may be unsafe for children’s health. In addition, on hot, sunny days the tire pieces can heat up and burn children playing on it.

Take It Home

Let’s hope your students have experienced so many moments of reuse at school that taking it home is a no-brainer. If you need a little help to inspire your students’ families, try these two ideas to get things started.

ESSENTIAL

There are currently more than 80,000 chemicals registered for use in everyday products, but less than 10 percent have been adequately tested for potential health impacts on children. It’s better to be safe than sorry, so if a product contains ingredients that you are unsure of, avoid it.

Reuse Challenge

Make a math homework assignment by creating a graph with students’ names on one side and reuse options on the other. Create coupons that say “Our family has completed ___________ to fulfill one Reuse Challenge” and send several home with each student. As students return their filled-in coupons, fill in the graph demonstrating reuse actions. Here are some examples of actions:

Use reusable bags for shopping. They can be cloth, paper, or plastic as long as they are reused.

Cut up old, unusable clothing for rags and use them in place of paper towels.