The whole idea of sustainability wasn’t exactly at the forefront of my mind as a child. I only remember that every few weeks we’d pile boxes of semi-stinky recyclables in the back of our minivan and haul to our local transfer station.

I recall my mother instructing us to separate plastics by number so they’d be suitable for tossing into each their appropriate dumpster.

From tins to glass and all things corrugated, it was quite the undertaking for something of which I understood so little.

In theory, I knew those three classic “R”s: reduce, reuse, recycle. Didn’t we all? The ’90s were brimming with catchy kid-targeted campaigns toting slogans that ranged from dissuading smoking to promoting literacy.

But somewhere along the way, a fourth “R” – reality – slowly crept up, weighing heavily on me. I realized that if we as a family, a community, a world don’t work together to live more sustainably, if we don’t recycle as the cyclical triple-arrowed icon encourages us to, then our planet’s natural resource outlook for future generations looks grimmer than a stinky pile of number 2 – milk jugs, that is.

My husband and I make valiant efforts to instill accountability and recycling habits as second nature to our children.

Our little guys are lucky. We no longer have to sort recycling in our hometown; it’s collected curbside. In effect, we’ve cut down significantly on our trash output. Talk about lazy man’s recycling.

Going green’s never been such a breeze.

This week, my husband and I discovered our recycling bin overflowing with numerous shredded cardboard strips. After a little investigation, we unearthed that our son was doing his part to save the Earth.

He had torn pieces from a cardboard storage box – a box that was still very much in use – because he simply wanted to contribute to recycling.

We’d recently emptied our bin, and our eldest took that as an urgent sign we needed to refill our recyclable stockpile as quickly as possible to keep a good thing going, so he found a way to do it– to the expense of our storage box. My husband and I couldn’t be upset; our son’s heart was in the right place.

We’ve encouraged recycling as though it were a Mary Poppins-style game, and so we have to take the humor that comes with it.

Sometimes, we recycle our own recycling by making repurposed creations. Recently, we created an entire lineup of papier-mache dinosaurs from empty tissue boxes and plastic yogurt cups.

Who knew? The powers that be at Kleenex didn’t.

Another way to excite children about recycling is to search local tours of recycling centers, waste management facilities, and commercial composting sites. It’s thrilling for kiddos to see this action, but it also gives them a visual lesson in sustainability.

Think of it as Tonka trucks. Only much bigger in size and purpose.

According to recycleacrossamerica.org, less than 35 percent of U.S. households and 10 percent of businesses recycle. Despite billions of dollars spent on awareness campaigns and sorting technologies in the past fifteen years, these levels have barely improved.

Americans throw enough aluminum in landfills every three months to build our country’s entire commercial air fleet, and nearly half of U.S. food goes to waste – about 3,000 pounds per second. It’s waste, waste, everywhere. There are hundreds of daunting statistics like these, which makes it even more critical to encourage our next generation to recycle by leading by example.

Your kiddos may be your carbon copies following in your footsteps, but you can teach them to lessen their carbon footprint.

And lowering your carbon footprint takes baby steps.

So keep on encouraging recycling as a family team effort.

Just keep an eye on your cardboard storage boxes.

— Michelle Cote is the art director of the Journal Tribune. She enjoys cooking, baking, and living room dance-offs with her husband, two boys and a dog. She can be contacted at mcote@journaltribune.com.

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