What is Sustainability?
A great, simple sustainability definition for kids is that it’s taking care of our planet by using things wisely. This includes turning off the water when we aren’t using it and making sure to turn the lights off when we leave a room. It means we close the door when we go outside or come back inside. We should always be aware of what we are using and how to use less of it. Teaching children about sustainability is key to a sustainable future.
In this post, we’ll explore ways to teach children how to live a more sustainable life and ways we can all make a difference. If everyone did just a few small things, it would make a huge difference in the world.
Easy Ways To Teach Sustainability

Recycling
This one seems simple, but it can have a huge impact on the environment. I think we all know that most of what we put in our recycle bin doesn’t actually get recycled. That doesn’t mean we shouldn’t do it. On the contrary, the more we do, the better the chances that it will work.
When adding things to the recycle bin, there are some things that you can do to increase the likelihood of that item actually being recycled. The biggest thing we can do is to make sure what we add to the bin is clean. A spaghetti sauce jar is recyclable, but if it breaks and sauce gets on other items, those items are no longer able to be recycled. Simply rinsing out cans and jars can have a big impact on the viability of the entire truck full of recyclables.
When recycling with your kids, it can be helpful to briefly explain what happens when we don’t recycle as well as when we do. For instance, I let my kids know that every water bottle that goes into the trash will live forever as trash. It may end up in the ocean or a river. That water bottle will never really go away. It will break into smaller pieces, but it won’t go away. The plastic will always be there. If, however, we recycle it, that same plastic can be used for other things. It may be turned into new water bottles or even into fabric for a shirt. That water bottle might become construction materials for a new house or a new playground.
Showing children the possibilities of what recycling can do helps get them excited about recycling in their own lives. Who knows, it may even inspire them to invent new methods of recycling as they grow up.
Repurposing
Repurposing and recycling go hand in hand. Recycling is a more extreme version of repurposing. However, for practical home applications, repurposing will simply be using something you no longer want or need for some other purpose. If something breaks in your house, rather than throwing it away, come up with a new way to use it. Whenever possible, it’s best to avoid throwing things away.
When my kids were little, we didn’t have much disposable income to spend on big, fun toys. Our town had a trash program where once a year, you could put larger or extra items at the street and the trash company would come pick it up for free. I used to love those days. People would throw out all kinds of great stuff. The old saying that one man’s trash is another man’s treasure is true.
One of those trash days, I went out early that morning to scout and see what treasures I could find. At the very end, when I was just about to go home empty handed, I saw a huge sandbox WITH a lid! I was thrilled to have found such a treasure and I knew my kids would love it. So I dragged it home and set it in the back yard. It was missing the built-in excavator that originally came with it and there was a crack in the lid, but none of use cared one bit about that. We got years of enjoyment out of a piece of trash!
If I still had the sandbox today, I would have likely turned it into a small pond or even a planter, but we left it at that house when we moved so the new owners could enjoy it as much as we had.
Repurposing Examples
Things break. It’s inevitable. But that doesn’t mean all is lost. When a dresser drawer breaks, that bay can easily be converted to a shelf. If a knitted sweater gets snagged and forms a hole, the whole thing can be unraveled and the yarn can be used to create something new. Candle jars can be cleaned out and used for storing crafts or dry goods in the kitchen.
Some things really are just trash when they break, but before you throw anything away, consider how it might be able to be used for some other purpose, even if it was never intended to be used that way. After all, the French strapped a cannon to a Vespa to defeat tanks…you never know what might work until you try it.
Choose Reusable Items to Replace Disposable Ones
I always laugh a little when I see commercials for paper towels declaring how much they function like a regular towel. I can’t help but think wouldn’t it just be easier to use an actual towel?
Yes. It would be easier. And better for the environment.
Below, I’ve compiled a list of reusable alternatives to everyday items that we use. A lot of advertising campaigns are aimed at showing how much more sanitary using a disposable item is. But if you look closely, their claims are based on unwashed reusable items, not clean ones.
Their main objective is not your health, it’s selling more of their product. And that’s the brilliance of disposable items when it comes to profits. The more you use, the more you need to buy. So it’s in their best financial interests to make sure you use as many disposable items as possible.
I’m here to tell you, reusable is better…for everyone in your house. Reusable items consume fewer natural resources and are typically made with healthier materials. For instance, using cotton flour sack towels (in place of paper towels) causes no additional trees to be cut down. There are no chemical processes that need to take place for cotton to be used in making the fabric. There’s no plastic packaging and no harsh dyes.

Reusable Alternatives
Towels are the biggest one in my house. We use a lot of flour sack towels because they are SUPER absorbent and ridiculously cheap. When replacing paper towels, I like to think of it this way: You wouldn’t use paper to dry off after a shower, so why use it to dry your hands after you’ve washed them? Reusable towels make much more sense.
If you’d like to see even more reusable options, check out my Reusable Alternatives post.
Here is a list of small changes you can make when choosing what items to use in your home. Start slow, if you want to ease into it. Just swap out one or two items at first. Before you know it, you’ll be looking for even more you can change!
Disposable Items – Reusable Alternative

Food
Even our food can be more sustainable. Simple things like making more of our food from scratch makes a big difference in how much waste we produce. All the snacks we buy at the store come in multiple layers of packaging. Let’s take a simple box of granola bars, for example. The granola bars are individually wrapped in plastic. Then, those are packed into a thin cardboard box that will be displayed on a store shelf. Dozens of those boxes are then packed into a larger cardboard box to be added to a pallet. Before that pallet can be sent to a store, all the boxes on it must be wrapped in plastic to prevent them from shifting during transport.
So that one granola bar has at least four layers of packaging before it gets to the store. Making granola bars at home not only saves that packaging, but it also allows you to control what’s in your food. As an added bonus, you get much more bonding time with your kids when you include them in making the granola bars!
Conclusion
Really, when teaching children about sustainability, it all boils down to using less of what the planet gives us. It’s our responsibility to take care of the Earth and make sure future generations have the same opportunities that we have.
We all live on this planet together and together we can all make a difference. It starts with you and continues with the next generation. Let’s teach our children well.

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