Recycling is more important than ever and with our future generations at stake, it’s important to teach them to care for the planet. Here’s how to do it:

#1 – Talk about the three R’s. Children like things explained in a way they understand and the three R’s will be easy for them to remember – they are Reuse, Reduce, Recycle.

Reuse – Show your children how they can reuse common items. Give examples throughout your day and say things like “don’t throw away that yogurt pot because we can reuse it to sow our seeds.” Giving small examples throughout the day will help your kids develop their own concepts of how to reuse common household items.

Reduce – Explain the important or reducing waste in the first place. Let your kids know that although recycling is the better option, the very best option for the planet is to reduce the amount of waste they produce. Show them that they don’t really need so many things, give examples of how people have lived with very little in the past and been absolutely fine. This will help your children think things through and hopefully get them to develop a “reduce” mentality throughout their lives.

Recycle – Set up an easy to manage and clear recycling system in your home. Have a section for glass, metal, cardboard, paper, and even food waste. Make it extra easy for your kids to recycle and make it fun. You can color code the boxes and give your kids positive feedback when they do recycle.

#2 – Take them to the environmental center. Many cities have set up educational centers at the local garbage tip. These are perfectly safe and clean to visit and can really make an impact on kids and adults alike. Here you can see exactly how much waste is being produced in your local area, what it costs the government to fund waste removal and how you can do your part to reduce the amount of waste produced in your household.

#3 – Add fun “green” items to your garden. Kids love to garden and be outdoors, make recycling fun in the garden. You can build a rain water collector, a compost heap and get a wormery too. Wormeries are great fun for kids, educational and a great way to get rid of your food waste – not to mention getting fantastic casting for your plants and vegetables. Wormeries range in price but setting one up is well worth it. You can then get your kids to put all the daily food scraps into it and see how the worms turn it into worm casting which can then be used as a super-potent and natural fertilizer in the garden.

There are many fun and educational ways to introduce recycling into your garden. It’s a fantastic opportunity to teach kids about the planet while having fun together too.

#4 – Set a positive example. The main thing you can do to teach your kids about recycling is to set a positive example in the first place. Talk to your kids about your feelings and thoughts about the planet. Build empathy in them by explaining how simple things like using too much water and resources affect everyone in the world. Give age appropriate examples of children in other countries who don’t have water or of natural disasters occurring because of global warming. Of course, you don’t want to scare them so keep it simple and to the point.

Also talk to your kids about what you’re doing. If you’re sorting items for recycling let the know why. If you’re reusing an item let them know. If you feel a certain item at the stores has too much packaging and don’t want to buy it for that reason let them know

Setting a good example for your kids and talking to them about these important issues is the one sure way to ensure a greener future for us all.

Buying organic foods is a growing necessity for many families. The more concerned we become about the pollutants and chemicals in our food, the greater the need for organic replacements. However, it’s not always easy to go down the organic route as this can be expensive for many families.

Here are a few tips to help you save on organic foods:

#1 – Buy in season. Seasonal product cost less and is also better for you. Our bodies are designed to eat according to our environment and buying in season helps you achieve this. In the summer we need more watery foods like cucumbers, tomatoes and peppers. These also have higher sources of vitamins and nutrients designed to help us during the summer months. In the winter our bodies need the dense energy found in root vegetables such as squash and pumpkins.

Where possible choose seasonal fruit and veg for your table. If you frequent organic farmers market this is quite easy to do as many tend to grow only in the season.

#2 – Grow your own. Growing your own is more popular than ever. It really isn’t too difficult or time consuming to grow your own veg. You don’t need to go down the route of being completely self sufficient (unless you’d like to be of course), you can simply grow a few vegetables here and there to help make a dent in your food bill.

It’s also very rewarding to grow your own. One of the easiest vegetables to grow is lettuce, spinach, tomatoes and cucumbers. All are quite pricey if purchased organically at the supermarket and you can easily grow your own at home even with little space.

Try your hand at growing different varieties of fruit and veg and you may just find you get hooked. There is nothing more satisfying than growing and harvesting your own food.

#3 – Buying local versus organic. Many small local farmers use ethical methods for growing their foods – meaning they reduce the amount of pesticides and chemicals used and grow in the most natural way possible. However, many are not certified organic farmers as this can be a pricey and lengthy process for the average small farmer.

In this case, it may be best to weight out the options of buying local versus imported organic. Imported organic fruit and veg is harmful to the environment because of the transport issue and also tends to loose more nutrients and vitamins due to long storage times. Buying local, fresh, in season produce may be a better alternative in a lot of cases. The decision is ultimately yours. You may be also lucky enough to have a local, organic farmers market near you – although pricier it is the best of both worlds.

Buying organic foods is possible with a little research and persistence. It’s also worth adding that buying and cooking foods from scratch may be cheaper (even organic varieties) than buying pre-packaged foods – not to mention better for you.

You can also look at other ways to cut back in your budget, such as eating out less and use the extra funds for your organic food budget.

Making your own fresh vegetable juice is really beneficial to the whole family. Not only are you making it easier for them to get their 5 a day but you’re also avoiding the many hidden sugars and additives found in traditional juices.

Here’s how to get started:

Get a good juicer – A good juicer is worth its weight in gold. You can get years out of use from an initial investment and have fresh juice all year round. Look for a strong and sturdy model that’s easy to use. If it’s too fiddly you may be put off using it on a regular basis.

Once you have a good juicer in place here are a few recipes that are easy and sure to be enjoyed by the whole family:

Carrot, apple and cucumber delight.

Two carrots
Two apples
Once Cucumber

Clean all the fruit and veg and run through the juicer according to product instructions. Depending on the consistency you like add water as appropriate.

Here are a few more ideas:

Celery, mango and carrot

Blueberry, zucchini and red pepper

Cucumber, tomato and celery

Carrot, spinach and apple

Those are just a few examples to help get you started. Juicing really doesn’t have any limits, however, and these recipes are just starting points. Once you have your juicer there are many, many variations you can try for delicious natural home-made juices.