Recycling Activities
The Virginia Recycling Association is always looking for more ideas on how to get our members, community and schools involved with fun activities about recycling! We've listed some of our current favorites below but make sure to keep checking back as we update this for new ideas all the time!
Sort & Recycle Hunt
Create a scavenger hunt, hiding cards representing various waste, recyclable, compostable, and donation items, around the room. Then divide into groups, with each group looking for as many cards as they can find and properly sorting them into the appropriate bins. At the end, review which items were correctly sorted, and why each thing belongs in each bin.
What You’ll Need:
- Cards labeled with different recyclable and reusable items.
- Bins labeled for Trash, Paper, Plastic, Glass, Metal, Compost, and Donations.
Model Landfill
Building a model landfill can help you understand the limitations of landfills and see the importance of composting and recycling. Start by lining the sides of your cardboard box with clay, which will prevent ‘leaking’ from the landfill. Once the box is lined, put down a layer of dirt. Then add a layer of trash, and another layer of dirt, and continue this process until the landfill is full. Notice how quickly it fills up, with relatively small amounts of trash, and consider that once the landfill is ‘sealed’, all the trash will just sit until it finally decomposes.
What You’ll Need:
- A cardboard box
- Sand/dirt
- Small pieces of trash
- Clay
- Toy dump trucks (optional)
Recycling Go Fish
The game works much like traditional Go Fish, where players seek to make matches and get rid of all the cards in their hand first. However, instead of simply matching cards, students will need to match all item cards with an appropriate waste disposal method in order to create a pair.
What You’ll Need:
- Deck of cards labeled with various waste, recyclable, compostable, and donation items, as well as cards labeled with paper, plastic, glass, metal, trash, compost and donation.
- For every item card there should be a card with the appropriate waste disposal method that item.
- Need images for your recycling deck of cards? Visit the RecycleGuyz website for images you can use!
Need help brainstorming more ideas or looking for recycling images for your use? Visit the Recycle Guys page by clicking on the button!