EPA Celebrates 25th Anniversary of Recycle City Educational Initiative

As part of EPA's celebration of Earth Day this week, the agency is marking the 25th anniversary of its Recycle City online educational resource. Recycle City’s web-based games and activities – newly updated for the anniversary – engage students on environmental topics including waste reduction, environmental justice, and energy conservation. The games teach students about doing simple things at home, at school, and in their neighborhoods that make a difference.

As part of the 25^th anniversary celebration, students on the Recycle City website can learn how City “residents” established a Zero Waste goal to reduce waste and improve the health of the community while reducing greenhouse gas emissions. The newly updated site includes electric vehicles and an anaerobic digester that turns food waste into renewable energy.

To celebrate their 25^th Anniversary, Recycle City’s leaders established a Zero Waste goal.

EPA also added to the site a 25^th Anniversary Scavenger Hunt, where students organize into teams searching the city for a school compost bin, 100% recycled paper, and an electric school bus. A newly added activity uses the San Francisco Department of the Environment’s multi-lingual Recycling Sign Maker Tool to help students make signs and discuss what belongs in recycling, composting, and landfill bins.

“Since the early days of the Web, Recycle City has provided a fun opportunity for students to learn how environmental initiatives impact people and communities,” said EPA Pacific Southwest Regional Administrator Martha Guzman. “Today’s youth will lead environmental change for their generation, and we hope that Recycle City will continue to engage students in increasing their environmental awareness and creating a sustainable future.”

One of Recycle City’s new electric school buses.

Recycle City has been one of EPA’s most visited websites since it launched on Earth Day in 1997. The site, designed for kids of all ages, provides a dynamic point-and-click journey that demonstrates how individuals, businesses, and communities can work together to cut waste through reduction, reuse, recycling, composting, anaerobic digestion, and green purchasing.

Many of the same issues covered in Recycle City are priorities in EPA’s first National Recycling Strategy, which is being implemented with partners to create a stronger, more resilient, and cost-effective recycling system across America.