School Recycling Resources
Recycling education can be conducted in limitless ways within the walls of the classroom and beyond. Lessons can and should be reinforced with appropriate recycling programs where students and staff can put their principles into practice (and comply with NYC regulations). This page presents resources to help improve school recycling programs and to develop an environmental curriculum that shows students how to become stewards of their urban environment.
Skip to Section:
- School Recycling Programs
- Lesson Plans and Other Resources for Teachers
- Classroom & Auditorium Speakers
- School Waste Prevention
- Field Trips
- Volunteer Opportunites
- Recycling Drives
- Grant Money
- After-School and Summer Programs
- Continuing Education Courses
- Resources for Colleges and Universities
- Other Resources
- Books
- Videos
School Recycling Programs
The Carton Council
Recycle milk and juice cartons in your school's cafeteria. Download a free Go-Green guide from the Carton Council.
The NYC DOE Sustainability Initiative
NYC public schools are becoming a national leader in sustainability. Gain insight into the DOE's sustainability programs, initiatives, and goals. Find the latest events, updates, and how you can get involved.
NYC Department of Sanitation
Get details on setting up a program and request signs, decals and educational material.
NYCWasteLe$$
Information and resources on waste prevention and recycling for K-12 schools. Nominate your school's recycling program, waste reduction
efforts, and cleanup projects for the Golden Apple Awards.
UFT Green Schools Committee
This committee is working to make NYC schools more sustainable. Attend a monthly meeting to get involved and hear a presentation from the NYC Department of Sanitation.
Lesson Plans and Other Resources for Teachers
American Forest & Paper Association
Download a free mini recycling poster created by AF&PA and
Scholastic, and a lesson plan for grades 3-6. There is also a short
video demonstrating how to make your own paper in class.
Cycles for Science
High-school curriculum containing lessons and hands-on activities in Biology, Chemistry, General/Earth Science and Physics with a focus on recycling, solid waste management and natural resource management
HEART
Extensive listing of humane education resources for all ages
Livable Streets Initiative
Age-appropriate learning units on sustainable transportation in New York City's urban environment
Marcal Environmental Lesson Plans
Free lesson plans on recycling and deforestation from Marcal, a local paper goods company that uses waste paper from NYC
NYC Dept of Sanitation, Bureau of Waste Prevention, Reuse & Recycling
Provides lesson plans and videos
New York State Association for Reduction, Reuse and Recycling (NYSAR3)
Resources for teaching and implementing recycling programs
NYS Department of Environmental Conservation
Curricula, trips, teacher resources and more
No Impact Project Environmental Education Curriculum
Middle and High School students will explore the effects of their everyday behavior on the environment, their health, and their well-being
Streets Education
Resources to teach kids about a livable urban environment
Trashed Lesson Plan Package
Comprehensive lesson plans to accompany Trashed, a 60-minute movie on the story of “garbage…American style”
US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Region 2
A wealth of materials for teachers, kids, students, and researchers to develop an increased knowledge of solid waste issues
Classroom & Auditorium Speakers
Alliance for Climate Education
ACE conducts a lively 45-minute presentation that effectively uses animation to engage students, at no cost to schools
Compost Wormshops
Invite a presenter from the NYC Compost Project to teach kids about recycling food scraps with worms
The Grand Falloons
With 20 years of
experience in the Big Apple Circus, the Grand Falloons will have your entire elementary school laughing and learning while fulfilling K-6 Earth Science Curriculum Standards
Greenmarket Meet Your Farmer
These visits bring regional farmers and Greenmarket staff to New York City classrooms and enable students to interact directly with a farmer in a quiet educational setting
GrowNYC
GrowNYC’s Environmental Education program offers different modules, such as shoreline restoration and energy
Lower East Side Ecology Center
Classroom education, after school activities and more
Solar One
Learn about renewable energy from Solar 1 by visiting their environmental education center or inviting them to your school
School Waste Prevention
Materials for the Arts
Materials for the Arts gathers supplies from companies and individuals that no longer need them and redistributes them to educators who can reuse them
Styrofoam Trays
Learn more about the effort to replace Styrofoam trays in city schools
Field Trips
Brooklyn Children’s Museum
Visit the Neighborhood Nature exhibit, explore the greenhouse and garden and meet interesting creatures
Brooklyn Bridge Park Conservancy
Offers customized courses for different age groups
Bronx River Alliance
Canoe trips, walking tours and more
Central Park Zoo
Offers a range of science-related curricula for grades K-12
City Parks Foundation
Offers during and after-school activities on coastal ecology in Astoria and Long Island City
Freshkills Park
Stand atop Fresh Kills, once the world’s largest landfill and home to NYC’s trash, now being recycled into a city park. Both the history and the future plans make for a fascinating experience!
Greenbelt Environmental Education Center
Programs include Waste Reduction, which teaches students where their garbage goes and provides an interactive demonstration on what to recycle at home and school
Greenmarket
Greenmarket School Tours introduce the concepts of seasonality, local food, and sustainable agriculture. School children discover the diverse varieties and delicious flavors of farm fresh food and explore the lively community created by a farmers market. Check out Greenmarket's Farm Field Trip program too!
Green Apple Map
Take a self-guided tour of your neighborhood using the NYC Green Map!
Hudson River Park Trust
Learn about Manhattan’s waterfront ecology
New York City Soil and Water Conservation District
Offers workshops on water and soil quality monitoring
NYC Department of Environmental Protection
Offers trips, hands-on activities and more
New York Restoration Project
NYRP provides resources to allow you to conduct your own field trip or enlist their assistance in providing students with a first-hand environmental exploration to complement classroom education
Pratt Industries
More than half of NYC’s paper is recycled at this plant on Staten Island. Take a virtual tour with this article and video!
Queens Botanical Garden
Offers a wide variety of science-based workshops for all ages
Rocking the Boat
Ecology tours, on-water classroom and more
Trees New York
Students will learn all about trees and our urban environment
Urban Park Rangers
Free camping, canoeing, birding and more
Wave Hill
Tours and more at this beautiful public garden in Riverdale
The River Project
The River Project’s Field Trips offer students from New York City schools the opportunity to experience the thriving ecosystem of the Hudson River Estuary
Urban Divers Ecology Center
Offers during-school and after-school activities
Volunteer Opportunites
GrowNYC volunteers must be 18 years of age or older. Find out about recycling volunteer opportunities here.
Recycling Drives
Aveda Bottle Cap Recycling
Your school can join Aveda's effort to expand recycling by collecting bottle caps.
Catalog Canceling Challenge
All across the country schools are canceling catalogs by the hundreds and thousands, find out how to be a part of the effort.
TerraCycle
Recycling drives for juice pouches, textiles, other materials
Wearable Collections
Host a drive for clothing and other textiles
Grant Money
See also: Recycling Drives
NYSAR3
Seed money may be available for your school's recycling program!
After-School and Summer Programs
Christodora
Environmental education and leadership training for motivated New York City public school students
Relit NY
High School students can be a part of Relit NY's effort to promote reading to all age groups and provide free and easy access of reading material to the public.
Teen Environmental Club at the Staten Island Museum
Open to any teenager (13-18) residing or going to school on Staten Island who wants to help make a difference to the local and global Environment
Continuing Education Courses
Center for Environmental Research and Conservation (CERC) at Columbia University
CERC’s ambitious educational agenda has evolved in response to the emergent issues of environmental and ecological sustainability. Programs encompass graduate, undergraduate and K-12 levels, as well as those for private and public sector executives and citizens interested in environmental sustainability.
Wallerstein Collaborative for Urban Environmental Education
Provides a year-round program which stimulates public school teachers in the metropolitan New York City region to incorporate environmental education in their classrooms
Resources for Colleges and Universities
NYSAR3 College Council
A membership-based forum through which college students, environmental staff, and faculty can share information about common environmental problems and best practices to overcome those challenges
Other Resources
Environmental Education Advisory Council
New York City's umbrella environmental education organization
Green Schools Alliance
Join this global network and check out their tool kit for reducing your school’s carbon footprint
Books
Where Does the Garbage Go?
Written for ages 5-9, this illustrated book will help anyone gain a better concept of what it means to throw something “away”. (Paul Showers, 1994, HarperTrophy)
Gone Tomorrow: the Hidden Life of Garbage
An in-depth analysis of the growth of waste in America—where it comes from, where it goes and what it all means. (Heather Rogers, 2006, New Press)
Think Green!
A fun, engaging book for elementary students that empowers them to think green in their daily lives. (Jeanine Behr Getz, 2008, Kids Think Big LLC).
Videos
Story of Stuff
The Story of Stuff is a 20-minute animated film with a human narrator that takes viewers on a provocative and eye-opening tour of the real costs of our consumer driven culture—from resource extraction to iPod incineration. [NYC residents please note: aseptic and gable-top containers like soy milk boxes and orange juice containers are recycled in your blue bin with glass/metal/plastic items.] (Annie Leonard and Free Range Graphics, 2008)
Gone Tomorrow: the Hidden Life of Garbage
To investigate the roots of our waste addicted culture, this 19-minute documentary excavates the history of garbage handling from the 1800s to the post-WWII golden era of consumption and up through the contradictions of modern day recycling. (Heather Rogers, 2005, available from AK Press on VHS or DVD)
Our Synthetic Sea
A series of videos about the effects of plastic pollution on the marine environment from the organization that discovered the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, a floating mass of plastic estimated to be twice the size of Texas. Available on VHS, DVD and in Spanish. (Algalita Marine Research Foundation)
Garbage Dreams
Garbage Dreams follows three teenage boys born into the trash trade and growing up in the world’s largest garbage village on the outskirts of Cairo. Far ahead of any modern “Green” initiatives, the Zabaleen survive by recycling 80 percent of the garbage they collect. (Mai Iskander, 2009)
Garbage: the Revolution Starts at Home
Concerned for the future of his new baby boy Sebastian, writer and director Andrew Nisker takes an average urban family, the McDonalds, and asks them to keep every scrap of garbage that they create for three months. He then takes them on a journey to find out where it all goes and what it's doing to the world. (Andrew Nisker, 2007)