Recycling at your day care

I have attempted to be as 'green' as possible, both in my personal life and at the day care, for quite some time now.  Before the advent of curbside collection I was dividing my waste and making the fun filled fortnightly trip to the recycling center for offload.  It took a bit of effort but I figured it was the least we wasteful, polluting humans could do in an attempt to preserve our environment. 

Running a day care  has been a great opportunity to try to educate the next generation in environmental awareness. Besides incorporating ecology lessons into the curriculum we have a stringent recycling ethos throughout the day care and the kids both observe and are active in the daily routines. They know what the different bins are for (paper,plastic, glass etc), are aware of our compost heap and how it works and are constantly reminded not to waste water or electricity. 

Promoting this awareness in the kids is a lot easier than you might think and can be made into a fun learning game (who knows where paper comes from, which bin does this pot go into?).  Children are like little sponges and they are open to new concepts and ideas.  Plus they carry this enthusiasm home and can often play a part in changing the mindset of  those around them (several parents have told me how they were remprimanded by their preschooler for putting a recyclable object in the garbage).  I love it!!

Parents send in lunches for the kids at our center and we encourage them to consider the packaging they use/purchase.  We had the kids help make up charts, sticking on pictures of recyclable containers and including information on choosing more environmentally friendly options e.g. buying yogurt in large, cardboard pots instead of the small plastic ones, getting raisins in bulk instead of small cardboard boxes, reusing juice bottles etc. 

Every day care owner knows how many batteries are required for all those annoying…er educational toys!!  We bought a  recharger, reuse our batteries and save money.  If you do have a cache of old batteries lying around take them to a local battery recycling depot (there are lots around).

It takes a little extra thought and effort but, with a combined effort involving all those small changes we can make a huge difference.  As day care operators we have a fantastic opportunity to mould little minds, to make environmental awareness second nature to kids.  Besides, you don't want a telling off from a preschooler!!

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