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Originally appears in the Winter 2022 issue.

By Chris Hakanson

We cannot buy our children a new planet, but we can work together to clean it up. At a personal and classroom level, if we change our philosophy about packaging and garbage, we can tackle the negative impacts of waste in our natural environment. Around my city and in many schools, there are a lot more efforts to help clean up and rejuvenate common spaces. What are educators’ roles in making this happen? You can start by embracing some of the following ideas for recycling, upcycling, and repurposing product packaging. I ponder all of these practices as an art teacher when daily trips into work have me carrying assorted items for art class — items such as garlic jars, dozen-sized foam egg cartons, and reused gesso storage bottles, among others. Having a constant supply of such items keeps my students functioning at optimal levels. Art rooms, Kindergarten through 12^th-grade, are wonderful places for recycling, upcycling, and repurposing

A second life 

More people need to investigate and understand the multiple uses of product packaging. Various plastic products make excellent containers if cleaned up as folks from previous generations did with metal coffee cans. A starting point is to buy gesso in medium (32 oz.) to large (64 oz.) bottles. After all the gesso has been consumed, wash out the container and use it for cleaning brushes.