Top school gardening recycling resources

Our top tips and resources to support you and your students during Recycle Week.

03 October 2023

Recycle Week (16-22 October) is Recycle Now’s flagship annual event. Now in its 20th year, their mission is to encourage children families and whole communities to recycle more by providing valuable information and advice. To celebrate this, we're sharing our top tips and resources so you can take part in your green space. 

Recycling resources

To help you bring green solutions to your garden, we’ve pulled together our top ten activities to support this topic. With no prior experience needed, these resources are the perfect way to introduce your students to recycling in the garden and how simple it can be to turn everyday items into practical and useful tools.

Origami seed packet

Use waste paper to create an origami packet for storing seeds collected from your garden.

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Milk bottle watering can

Perfect for small hands or plants, this is a quick and easy activity for all ages.

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Recycled gardening apron

Use a clean compost bag to make a handy protective apron for your young gardeners.

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Beautiful basket

Make a useful basket out of a plastic milk bottle to store labels, pens or seeds, or to carry pots or produce.

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Newspaper pots

Newspaper pots are brilliant for starting off your seeds such as sunflowers, peas or for potting on young seedlings. 

The Creative Gardener

Tune into nature through the sensory experiences of growing plants from seed in a recycled container.

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Fun cane toppers

Use recycled materials or clay to make these fun bamboo cane toppers - perfect for preventing injuries while also adding some fun to the garden.

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Mini wormery

Learn where a worm likes to live and understand their importance for healthy soil and plants.

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Small bug homes

Create a cosy home for ladybirds and bugs to use in your green space.

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Seven ways to reduce plastic use in the garden

1. Where possible, reuse plastic pots, share with others or take them to a garden centre recycling point. If you're growing your own plants from seed, use alternative containers - almost anything can be turned into a plant pot.
2. Reuse compost bags as rubbish sacks or to be used in a craft project. If you're able to produce your own compost, that's even better. Check out our guide to help you get started.
3. Protect your plants with plastic-free alternatives, such as cardboard, straw or newspaper. Many supermarkets allow you to take excess cardboard boxes for free.
4. Seed trays last well and are lightweight but once broken are difficult to recycle. Swap them for wooden or bamboo seed trays.
5. Modules are often flimsy and shatter easily; they are rarely recycled. Swap them for newspaper pots or toilet roll inners.
6. String and netting are strong and long-lasting but rarely recycled; wildlife can become entangled in plastic netting, too. Swap for jute or hemp twine, jute netting or metal mesh.

Top tip

Many garden centres offer pot recycling collection points, and a few councils accept pots in kerbside collections. Traditional black plastic pots can’t be recycled. If you already have them in your garden the best thing to do is to re-use them as much as possible. Look out for taupe (beige) plastic pots as these can be recycled, or choose biodegradable alternatives such as rice bran pots. 

Recycle Week allows children and young people to be informed about recycling. Whether it's helping them understand how paper, glass, plastic and other materials can be recycled or exploring composting fruits and vegetables, it’s a great way to bring everyone together and inspire future generations. For more inspiration, check out our guide to greening your school.