“This review was made possible by iConnect and Bottersnikes & Gumbles. I was provided compensation to facilitate this post, but all opinions stated are 100% mine.”
Recycling may seem like one of those things that only adults do.
But that’s not the case at all. Kids can get involved with recycling and you can even have fun with it in the process. It’s really easy to do and you can make it into a game if they don’t seem to enthused. But you just never know what will happen. Some kids love to sort things so recycling might just be one of those things that they really get into!
Recycling is sort of like exercising: we all know we should do it, but not all of us do it as often as we should—and some of us don’t do it at all. However, there are lots of reasons why you should make an effort to recycle as much as possible. If you haven’t been diligent about recycling your garbage, here are four good reasons why you should start.
It cuts back on global warming.
Our planet is starting to feel the effects of global warming already—and we need to do whatever we can to lessen the impact. Production of certain materials from scratch can release significant amounts of CO2 into the atmosphere. Aluminum production is a prime example—producing new aluminum creates 95% more CO2 than recycling old aluminum cans. In addition, recycling paper saves trees—for each ton of paper recycled, 17 trees are saved. Each of these trees can extract around 250 pounds of carbon dioxide from the air in a year.
It makes us more energy-efficient.
It often takes a great deal more energy to create something from scratch than to recycle it. For example, it takes twice as much energy to burn plastic as to recycle it; it takes 64% more energy to make paper than to recycle it; and recycling just one pound of steel can save enough energy to run a 60-watt bulb for one day.
It keeps our landfills from overflowing.
We’re fast running out of space for landfills—especially near cities. Seaside cities have been dumping trash into their oceans for decades to circumvent the problem, but with widespread marine ecological collapse, this is no longer a viable option. Worse yet, it’s difficult to find land in suburban and rural areas whose residents will allow landfills to come into their areas without a fight. The squeeze for landfill land is only going to get worse in the future.
One person can make a difference.
With so many good causes, it’s easy to get discouraged—especially when the problem is so widespread that it’s hard to see what difference your individual effort is making. Many people think this is true with recycling, too—but the truth is that small acts of recycling make a big difference. For example, recycling just one large newspaper would save around 75,000 trees. On average, each person in the U.S. produces around 1,600 lbs. of waste each year. If you recycled all of that, you could save around 1,100 lbs. of waste per year—that’s over half a ton—just by yourself!
You can easily get your kids involved with recyling and encourage them to do with the new Netflix TV series Botternikes & Gumbles.
Though it’s more meant for kids (ages 6 – 9), I enjoyed watching this as well. The overlying message is about environmental protection but they do it in such a fun way! The main characters are split into two groups: Bottersnikes and Gumbles.
Bottersnikes tend to be a bit lazy and don’t really have the best eating habits. But the Gumbles are friendly and cheerful and try to keep the Bush (their environment) clean and tidy. I must say, Squeaker really enjoyed the series too, even if she’s only 2. To help her understand the concept of environmental protection and recycling, I made a mini recycling game for her.
With help, she was able to sort between what goes in a compost pile, and what types of items can be recycled.
>>>> Download the Recycling Game <<<<
Between that and watching Bottersnikes & Gumbles, I’m sure that I’ll have a recycling champ on my hands in no time at all! How do you get your kids excited about and involved with recycling?
Kori
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