On Earth Day 2022, SMART promotes its educational resources so the next generation can understand the importance of textile recycling
https://www.smartasn.org/resources/for-schools/
On Earth Day 2022, SMART (Secondary Materials and Recycled Textiles) invites educators worldwide to use our educational materials designed to encourage textile recycling. SMART has created lesson plans and educational worksheets to teach students about Textile Recycling. These lesson plans and worksheets are designed to meet the Common Core Standards required by schools. SMART first created these materials in 2012 in conjunction with The Education Center as a part of a marketing effort to teach elementary school students about textile reuse and recycling. In the first three years of its existence, the program reached over one million students in the United States. For more than a decade now, educators have used these materials to educate students and create awareness about textile recycling.
Educational Resources:
The educational resources are available for free online and are designed for kindergarten through fifth grade. SMART also offers informational materials to raise public awareness in communities. The textile fact sheet, for example, explains some of the ways donated textiles can be reused:
◊ Resold at charities’
◊ Secondhand clothing stores
◊ Sent to developing countries to provide affordable quality clothing ◊ Turned into wiping cloths, which are used in a variety of industries and businesses (everything from manufacturers to repair shops, construction industries, stores, and maintenance and custodial departments)
◊ Processed back into fibers and turned into paper, yarn, insulation, carpet padding, and other items
SMART even offers a template letter for anyone to use to send to a corporate administrator or school PTO to begin a textile recycling drive.
On Earth Day, we are reminded about how vital textile recycling is to our environment. The SMART association’s statistics show that 81 pounds of textiles per person are thrown away annually. Meanwhile, roughly 95% of
all used textiles, including old clothes, shoes, towels, sheets, curtains, stuffed animals, and more, can be recycled. Of course, the items need to be clean, dry, and odor-free – a process that reduces the need to create more landfill space reduces pollution created by incinerators and saves our environment from tons of harsh chemicals.
“Reuse and recycling of clothing and textiles is the equivalent of removing 1.3 million cars from America’s highways and is equal to the impact of aluminum recycling,” explains SMART’s Executive Director, Jackie King. “It is also more impactful than plastic and glass recycling,”.
Community Challenge:
Make a commitment to encourage textile recycling this year. Share information about textile reuse and recycling with friends, neighbors, co workers, and digital channels like social media. “The SMART website hosts several resources available to the community, including sharable infographics, FAQs, and more,” says King. “This year, we can all play our part by sending an email or posting to social media to challenge and educate our friends and family on the importance of textile reuse and recycling.”
To access SMART’s resources, or learn more about textile reuse and recycling, visit www.smartasn.org.
About SMART
Established in 1932, the Secondary Materials and Recycled Textiles Association (SMART) is an international nonprofit trade association that strengthens the economic opportunities of its diverse membership by promoting the interdependence of the for-profit textile recycling industry segments and providing a common forum for networking, education, and trade. SMART members use and convert recycled and secondary materials from used clothing, commercial laundries and non-woven, off spec material, new mills ends, and paper worldwide. SMART member companies create thousands of jobs worldwide, proving that you can make money by being socially responsible each day.
No comments:
Post a Comment