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by Savannah Christiansen and Mitul Rathod

In order to improve recycling habits and extend our influence on Tufts’ campus,Tufts Recycles! decided to carry our efforts over to the Elliot Pearson Children’s School.

Tufts Recycles! interns began the morning of Thursday, July 9th by organizing a teach-in recycling activity at the preschool in an effort to begin collaboration between the two departments. We brought in a board with recyclable materials organized into their appropriate categories as an easy-to-understand guide for the kids, and made plans to have a scavenger hunt for recyclables and compost. The kids would then race to see who could sort the most items into their appropriate bins. It was a great way to start our relationship with the EPCS, and help the kids become familiar with recyclable and compostable materials.

TR! interns were back at it again the following Thursday, this time with Japanese Spurge plants and recycled water bottles in hand to be reused in a fun art activity: plant potting! Kids used recyclable materials to create their own potted plants that they could decorate and take home with them. The activity was a huge success, and even some teachers made their own recycled potted plant!

For the last teach-in on Tuesday, TR! interns enlisted the help of Recyclobot to help further familiarize the kids with sorting recyclable materials. Kids glued the materials onto recyclobot based on whether they were paper/cardboard, or glass/metal/plastic. They even had the opportunity to create their own mini-robots out of recyclable materials!

All in all, our presence at the EPCS allowed for us to familiarize kids with proper recycling habits that will be useful to them in the future. It was a rewarding experience for TR! interns to see the kids so engaged in the recycling activities. The teachers and children were sad to see us go, but we look forward to working with the EPCS during the school year!