Students at most ages have heard the word recycling, but when asked what it actually means we get a short narrative of “making new stuff”. In the schools that WeFutureCycle is active in, the kids have learned that packaging items made of cartons, hard plastic, aluminum, glass and milk cartons are fully recyclable and thus they go into the recycling bin. They are good at sorting, do it easily and while chatting with their friends. The result is a reduction of 95!!! % in waste by sorting all compostables and all recyclables out of the system.

But what does “making new stuff” actually mean? We put it to the test by giving them a bunch of materials and let them build a space station with it . While they were busy cutting “solar panels” from cereal boxes, I explained that most materials can do just that. Be made into something as fantastic as a space station.