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SMART’s free lesson plans for students; new OEKO-TEX® test criteria for 2014.
The Secondary Materials and Recycled Textiles Association (SMART) has announced the launch of its Recycling Rangers program for elementary school teachers. The goal of this year’s educational program is to heighten student, teacher and family awareness of clothing and textile recycling by engaging more than 2,500 teachers in grades K–5 in its Recycling Rangers program. In addition to free lesson plans for their classrooms, teachers are also encouraged to promote recycling by organizing textile recycling drives at their schools.
The Recycling Rangers program builds on the highly successful 2012–13 academic year, “Wear It? Recycle It!” lesson plan program. During that program, more than 300,000 students learned about clothing and textile recycling.
Recycling Rangers includes monthly activities for teachers and students that will be used to teach children about the positive impact of clothing and textile recycling. One of the goals of the program is to have teachers become Recycling Rangers and to have their school host a clothing and textile recycling program. SMART member companies are sponsoring 14 regions throughout the United States and are prepared to work with the teachers and their schools to host a textile recycling drive. Teachers who participate by hosting a textile recycling event will also have the opportunity to win monthly prizes for their classrooms.
The grade-appropriate lesson plans may be downloaded at no cost by visiting themailbox.com/smart. The website also allows teachers to sign up to host their own textile recycling drives when they become Recycling Rangers.
“We are very excited to present the Recycling Rangers program to teachers and students. As the trade association of the clothing and textile recycling industry, SMART’s goal is to reach more than 1 million students with the positive message of textile recycling by the end of 2015,” says Jackie King, executive director of SMART. “Our member companies really stepped up by sponsoring regions throughout the United States to make it as easy as possible for teachers to host a clothing recycling event at their own school.”
The Recycling Ranger program runs through March 2014. In addition to the Recycling Rangers website, teachers can learn more about the program in Learning magazine, via The Mailbox elementary school activities, in an e-newsletter, and on The Education Center’s Facebook page, Twitter account and in various blogs. For more information, contact Paul Bailey at the Fallston Group.
SMART membership
Secondary Materials and Recycled Textiles (SMART) is an international nonprofit trade association that strengthens the economic opportunities of its diverse membership by promoting the interdependence of our industry segments and providing a common forum for networking, education and trade. Since 1932, SMART has been at the forefront of recycling. SMART members use and convert recycled and secondary materials from used clothing, commercial laundries and nonwoven, off-spec material, new mill ends and paper from around the world. Member companies create thousands of jobs worldwide, proving that it is possible to make money by being socially responsible.
For additional information , visit the association’s website. To download the iRecycle app, visit Earth911. The app allows users to find clothing and textile recycling drop-off locations.