Recycling/Composting Program

The Recycling/Composting Youth Program offers a variety of interactive in-person lessons, focused on Solid Waste Management topics such as recycling, composting, and landfills. You can contact us at knh36@cornell.edu

Partial funding to support this program is provided by NYS Department of Environmental Conservation with additional funding from the Broome County Division of Solid Waste Management to provide free education to Broome County residents. Groups must be a part of Broome County to participate.

Recycling Lessons

How Paper is Made (K-2^nd)

• Paper plays an important role in our lives from books, coloring sheets, cardboard, and more. We will learn how we paper is made and how recycling helps save trees. 
• This lesson aligns with NYS Standards ESS3.A, ESS3.C, PS1.A
• Request How Paper is Made Lesson

How Recycling Works (3^rd-6^th)

• Discover where our trash comes from, how it connects to our natural resources and the environmental impact. Students will be fully engaged with vivid visuals, short videos, and easy to understand analogies. Get the inside scoop on what’s recyclable in Broome County, how recycling is handled, and the products (some extremely unique) created as a result.
• This lesson aligns with NYS Standards 3-PS2.B, 4-ESS3-1, 4-PS3C. A, 4-ESS1.C, 5-ESS3.C
• Request When Trash Comes Back Lesson

Composting Lessons

Compost Stew with Worm Bin Discovery (Pre-K-1^st)

• Literacy and Science come together! Discover the “ingredients” for compost through an interactive read-aloud of Compost Stew: An A to Z Recipe for the Earth by Mary Mckenna Siddals. This rhyming story provides the perfect lead-in to an up-close discovery of “Compost Stew” and the wiggly creatures that help create it.
• This lesson aligns with NYS Standards K-LS1-1, 2-LS4-1
• Request Compost Stew

Garbage Helps our Garden Grow with Compost Creatures Discovery (K-3^rd)

• Literacy and Science come together! Garbage Helps Our Garden Grow: A Compost Story by Linda Glaser is an easy to follow, non-fiction piece with vivid step-by-step photos to share nature’s own form of recycling. We will meet the creatures that help in the compost process in our compost creature search activity. 
• This lesson aligns with NYS Standards K-LS1-1, 2-LS4-1
• Request Garbage Helps Our Garden Grow

Compost Creatures (6^th-12^th)

• We all know that paper, plastic, glass, and metal can be recycled, but what about food scraps? Learn more about outdoor composting- how it affects our ecological footprint and the creatures that play a key role in the process. Students can explore a supplemental interactive guide with videos of these creatures up close.
• This lesson aligns with NYS Standards MS-LS2-3, MS-LS3-2
• Request Compost Creatures

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Last updated April 18, 2025