Summertime means more fun playing outside, hosting barbecues, and enjoying the sunshine for the majority of the day. Unfortunately, it is all too easy to accumulate garbage doing these activities. So to prevent waste management disasters during your summer activities, here are some of the best recycling tips for the warm season.

Create fun child-friendly activities with recyclable materials
There are plenty of different games you can create with materials you most likely already have in your house! There’s no need for fancy, expensive toys when you have these simple (and cheap!) games:

  • Creating a telephone by using washed out tin cans and some leftover yarn.

  • Building a fort with leftover cardboard boxes. Every little bit helps — recycling one ton of cardboard saves over nine cubic yards of landfill space, so just think of how much you can save!

  • Crafting a simple bird feeder out of a rinsed out milk jug but cutting a hole and attaching a couple of sticks the birds can stand on while they feed!

  • Painting with empty two-liter bottles, their bottoms look like adorable flowers.

Don’t forget family parties
As easy as they can be to use, paper and plastic products just end up in landfills. Use real dishes and silverware, and make it as group effort to clean up when done! Also, make sure not to forget to set up recycling stations and to make an announcement about their locations when people arrive. Most party guests just throw away cans and bottles without even thinking to ask, so clearly labeling your recycling bins is a great idea.

Grow organic food
Chances are, the produce you buy at the grocery store is wrapped in either plastic or paper. You can eliminate this waste altogether when you grow your own organic food from leftovers. It couldn’t be easier to do this: grab a few seeds or roots from your favorite fruits and veggies, plant them in separate pots outdoors, and be patient! Ask your neighbors if they would like to join in, and you can easily develop a community garden to use and enjoy.

These three summertime waste management tips couldn’t be easier, so go have fun and recycle!