10 Ways to Get High School Kids Into Recycling

Children are our future, so it makes sense to try and get them as environmentally conscious as we can as early as possible. Here is a list of 10 recycling ideas for high school kids’ projects to get children to become engaged in recycling.

1. Hold a Contest

Kids love competition, and this is a great way to get them to start being aware of what they were throwing out. Contests for recycling are also easy to set up and easy to keep track of. Have a class split up into teams, or the entire school can be involved by having each grade go against each other.

2. Turn Recycling into a Game

Much like the contest, but for the individual. Several game ideas can be done with recycling, including tracking how much one is recycling, what they’re recycling, and if they’re doing it outside of school. Rewards and recognition are a must for this to stick.

3. Charts, Charts, and More Charts

Creating charts that show the love of recycling is something each student can do, it will also help cement the idea of recycling and what it’s for inside their minds.

4. Start a Club

Be it a school’s Green Club or a classroom’s own personal club, it’s a great way to get like-minded and curious students together. Clubs are a way to help educate and grow a future community of environmentally friendly people.

5. Create Recycling Quizzes

Kids may not like quizzes, but it doesn’t change the fact that the more they know about something, the better they’ll do on the quiz. This is a great way to enforce that they are learning and participating.

6. Research Projects

Sure, we all know about plastics, cans, and paper, but what about things like make-up bottles, medicine bottles, used crayons, and other questionable things? Set the students up into groups and give them each a list of hard to recycle objects and see what they can come up with through research.

7. Recycle in Class Regularly 

This sounds simple enough, but so many times, it’s not done. Try to have your students re-use containers for any projects. Even bring in some projects you’ve done with re-using objects of your own! The more the kids see and use recycling in high school, the more they’ll do it on their own.

8. Recycle Markers

Remember the research project? Now let’s do something with it, have the students create paint from old markers. It’s messy, it’s fun, and students will love the new medium to use.

9. Teach Students About Compost 

Plastics, aluminum, and paper aren’t the only things that can be recycled; food can be too! Try teaching students about compost piles and their benefits to nature and gardening.

10. Plant a Garden

If you’re going to teach about compost, you should have a class garden the students can be involved with. Teach them about how there are different ways of recycling, like collecting things outside to turn to compost. Or even by collecting seeds to plant at home so those aren’t wasted.