Let’s Make Recycling Fun and Easy for Kids
Guest Post by: Jessica Alexanderson, President of Scrap University Kids
In the United States, we have a major issue with metal recycling. Metal is easy to recycle, but so many people don’t know where to recycle it. So instead, the metal ends up in garbage cans, on the side of the road, and in the ocean. Did you know that only 45% of aluminum beverage cans are recycled in the United States even though they are 100% recyclable?
But it’s not just aluminum; all metal can be recycled! Brad, a metal recycling guru, along with Shaziya a school teacher, and Jessica a scuba diver decided it was time to make a lasting, positive impact on the health of our planet. We want to start this mission by educating children about the importance of recycling and spreading awareness on how metal recycling can be easy for everyone. We founded Scrap University Kids in April 2022 to tackle the metal recycling problem together.
Scrap University Kids
At Scrap University Kids, we are committed to teaching children that their everyday actions make a lasting impact on the environment. If more people, make the effort to use recyclable materials like metal cans—and recycle those materials when they’re done with them—we can preserve valuable resources and reduce landfill waste. Our goal is to eliminate ALL metal from the waste stream within the next 30 years through education.
What’s the first step in our mission? You will like this: It involves books and storytelling. We just published our first picture book for children. Our new book, The Girl Who Recycled 1 Million Cans, is a fun tale that educates children about the environmental and financial benefits of metal recycling. The engaging story takes young readers on the journey of a girl who wants to buy a unicorn with the proceeds from recycling 1 million cans.
We chose a really cool print-on-demand book printer called Bookbaby, so our books could be printed in the USA on forest-safe paper. We love to support local made-in-the-USA companies.
The next books in the series will progressively broaden the awareness and understanding of metals, how they’re recycled, and why it’s important to never throw metal in the garbage. We are starting with storybooks, but we will also have fun online classes and a cartoon series about metal recycling.
Teaching Kids About Recycling
We want to make recycling fun and easy for kids. Let’s work together and start educating our young children by joining Ellie and her friends on an adventure to collect 1 million cans. With the help of our mascot, Mr. Ferrous Magglio, the talking magnet, our readers learn that all metal can be recycled. They will discover that teamwork and the willingness to share and adapt can help them achieve their goals.
This is the perfect book for your child to learn about recycling, financial literacy, perseverance, sharing, teamwork, and donating. Use this book as a tool to inspire children’s excitement for and interest in recycling. Watch the recycling lightbulb turn on in the kids’ minds as they start looking for cans to recycle.
The Million Cans Recycling Program
To achieve our goals, we know that it’s important to make it easy for people of all ages to recycle any type of metal. To do this, we started the Million Cans Recycling Program. We are bringing the Scrap Yard to you. By working with scrap yards around the USA to bring roll-off bins to local schools so that communities have an easy drop-off location for metal. All metal has value, so any proceeds of the recycled metal will go to the school to buy supplies. By making recycling metal easy for everyone, we believe we can achieve our goal of 100% of used metal being recycled by the year 2052.
Help Us Recycle 1 Million Cans
You can be a part of this important environmental initiative by helping us get copies of our book into as many kids’ hands as possible. We’re asking readers like you to buy The Girl Who Recycled 1 Million Cans for all the kids in your life or to donate the book to elementary schools in your neighborhood. Help us spread the word that metal does not belong in the garbage.
Together, we can save the planet—one can at a time.
To learn more about our mission, and to order a copy of The Girl Who Recycled 1 Million Cans, please visit our website: Kids.ScrapUniversity.com
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Scrap University Kids is:
Brad W. Rudover-
Brad was born into a family recycling business and spent much of his childhood in or around a scrap yard. He holds a Bachelor of Science in Small Business Management from Ferris State University and a Master of Business Administration from Western Washington University. He owns Detroit Scrap, Scrap University, and Scrap University Kids.
Shaziya M. Jaffer-
Shaziya is a passionate elementary school teacher, who has worked in the Burnaby School District for the last 15 years. She is excited to be a part of Scrap University Kids so she can help educate children about the importance of recycling and taking care of the Earth.
Jessica Alexanderson—also known as Scuba Jess
Jessica is the President of Scrap University Kids. She is also an avid scuba diver and underwater photographer in Seattle, WA. She enjoys organizing cleanup dives to collect trash from the ocean and recycle as much of it as she can. Jessica strongly believes that we can help protect our amazing ocean planet and make it healthier for the next generations by teaching kids what is below the surface and teaching them that recycling can be fun and easy. If people, see how amazing it is below the surface my wish is, they will try to make changes for the better to help out those wonderful sea creatures who don’t have a voice to ask for help.
