Teaching kids recycling is an important facet of environmental conservation.
There are plenty of schools that have launched programs to educate children about the value and benefits of recycling.
Environmental groups love the idea. They strongly encourage teachers and parents alike to keep doing what they can to ensure our children leave our world a better place for everyone.
And that, of course, starts with teaching their children how to protect the earth. There’s an important role that recycling plays in that.
And the idea is to get kids to understand and appreciate recycling now, at a young age. It can become a lifetime habit for them. And they can grow up believing in the importance of preserving our vital natural resources.
Teachers and parents are both encouraged to do what they can to develop those early, environmentally-friendly habits. That includes everything from not littering in parks and public places, to the fun of sorting out recyclables in categories like paper, plastics, and cans.
But there’s another area where kids could benefit. That’s by being introduced to a more specific, and equally important, concept: learning about scrap metal recycling. Teaching this would be a terrific addition to the discussion on protecting our environmental and natural resources.
Think of it this way: most of us have driven a car that eventually dies. Or we have appliances that stop working and must be replaced. There’s a goldmine of metal in them that can be recycled. But chances are a lot of kids don’t know that. There’s some great lessons for the kids about what the term scrap metal refers to.
How do you introduce kids to scrap metal recycling?
If you’re a parent or a teacher, grab a piece of paper. Then jot down a few questions for starting this process, like:
1. Do your kids know where people can take their scrap metal to be recycled?
2. Do they know what happens to the metal once it gets to the recycling center?
3. Do they know how to define scrap metal?
These are great starter questions for introducing kids to the concept of scrap metal and why it should be recycled.
And scrap metal recycling is an ideal way to teach children about the importance of preserving the land, water and air around us. And it’s about being environmentally responsible, and how so much of the metal we own can be reused courtesy of recycling.
So where do you start?
First, teach children about why recycling scrap metal matters. Point out how harmful it is for that material to end up in a landfill, where the often toxic chemicals inside those metals can potentially contaminate the ground soil and nearby rivers and lakes. That’s a valuable lesson.
Recycling scrap metal is important because it helps reduce the amount of trash at area landfills and minimizes the risk of contamination. And that’s going to provide all of us with a cleaner and healthier environment.
You can also deliver the lessons by making the process fun for the kids. Try having them go through the house, finding items made of metal.
Emphasize that recycling each one is just as important as recycling paper, cans, and plastics.
What can teachers do?
Schools play a crucial role in this process. And a great way to get kids interested is to schedule a tour of your nearest scrap metal recycling center. In fact, parent and child alike could potentially learn quite a bit from this trip, including exactly what types of scrap can be recycled, and which ones don’t.
There are great lessons to be found here, particularly since a company that recycles scrap metal is taking something we no longer want, then reusing it to create a brand new product.
There are solid lessons here about household items not going to waste, and how valuable it is to reuse our metals over and over again.
Visiting a recycling center is also a great way to demonstrate to kids what happens there. They learn how metals get sorted and separated by type, and the methods used to recycle and re-purpose them.
And by observing the workers at the recycling plant, the students can come to understand that recycling helps the economy as well as the environment, and creates jobs.
Finding projects for students
Then consider assigning your students to a project, like collecting items at their home that fit within the definition of scrap metal, like soda cans. Since a lot of kids already understand the concept that recycling aluminum cans reduces unnecessary waste, it can be easy to take the next few steps toward expanding their knowledge to other forms of scrap metal.
For teachers, this is also a great way to expand that lesson. They can demonstrate how many aluminum cans are used and discarded every day. And they can show how rapidly those numbers multiple when we view it on a yearly basis.
It’s easy for kids to understand that consumers go through a veritable ton of soda cans every day. But what happens to them once we toss those cans into the trash?
It also helps to find and show the students examples of how recycled scrap metal has been reused, and what those new products have become.
It can also help to teach the students the difference between ferrous and non-ferrous metals, how to identify them, and what the difference in value is between both.
The bottom line is the sooner we start teaching kids about taking care of the environment – and the role that recycling plays in that – the better off we’ll all be. And there are plenty of ways for parents and teachers alike to make it fun for the kids, to organize classroom tours or to create projects for them to work on.
Teaching kids to recycle now is a plan that’s likely to pay off in the future. As they become adults, kids can help us clean up our environment. At the same time, their children will inherit a healthier place to live in.
Teaching Kids Recycling for Scrap Metal, Ewaste, and the Environment
There’s a lot to learn from a company like GLE Scrap Metal, which has been doing scrap metal recycling for years.
A family owned and operated business, GLE Scrap Metal performs environmentally-friendly processing and recycling of all base and precious metals. And they maintain a zero-landfill policy to efficiently utilize natural resources and help conserve energy.
Contact GLE Scrap Metal today at 855-SCRAP-88 to learn more about our services. We ensure that your excess materials don’t go to waste. And at the same time we maximize the value you get in return.
