Teaching children how to reduce waste

Derreck Kayongo, founder of The Global Soap Project, shares advice for parents on how to teach your kids to recycle and reduce their waste to help the environment
Teaching Children How To Recycle and Reduce Waste
KidsInTheHouse the Ultimate Parenting Resource
Kids in the House Tour

Teaching children how to reduce waste

Comment
126
Like
126
Transcription: 
When you are trying to teach your kids not to be wasteful, it is important not to be wasteful yourself. What do they say? Charity begins at home. Charity begins with us, individually, being responsible. If they see you being wasteful, they are going to be wasteful. It starts with you. Stop being wasteful in small ways. Don't give them a lot of food and say, "Finish your food. You didn't finish your food." I hear that all the time. My son said to me one time, "You are telling me to finish my food, but you gave me a lot of food. Give me a smaller portion and then I won't waste it." Maybe it's portioning. I want to use the word, portioning. Giving people enough and an understanding of what they can consume. Once we have an understanding of what we can consume, we take that portion piece very seriously. I see big portions in our society today. If you go to a restaurant, it's big portions. If you go to a football game, it's long hours, portions of time. Everything is big and huge. I think we need to go back to a small book that is called, "Small is Beautiful." I think people have heard about that book. Taking smaller things and looking at them in a beautiful way. They are beautiful, too. It comes to things like soap. I like to recycle soap. If you go to a hotel and you see they are throwing away soap, ask them about it. Let's recycle soap. Other things that you can recycle. Recycling is a big thing because it helps us save on resources. It starts with you. Number two, portioning, understanding your portions. That's how you start to teach kids how to be responsible.

Derreck Kayongo, founder of The Global Soap Project, shares advice for parents on how to teach your kids to recycle and reduce their waste to help the environment

Related Videos

Transcript

Expert Bio

More from Expert

Derreck Kayongo

Parent with a Purpose

Derreck Kayongo is a social entrepreneur and the founder of The Global Soap Project. An executive and development expert, Derreck Kayongo has more than 15 years experience developing strategic social campaigns within organizations for cause-related advocacy, public policy, issue management, and community organizing. His work has made a profound contribution in raising awareness aimed at realizing permanent solutions to global poverty.

Kayongo’s journey from child refugee to fearless visionary is filled with moments of inspiration (along with the benefits of good, old-fashioned sweat equity) that make him one of the most popular – and authentic – speakers on the circuit today. From Africa to Atlanta with nothing but a dream and tenacity, Kayongo beat the odds, earned an education, and has served in leadership roles in some of the world’s most respected non-governmental agencies (NGOs) since 1994. Today, he shares his vivacious spirit and invaluable experience in the areas entrepreneurship, environmental sustainability, global health, social justice and professional engagement with audiences in both the corporate and not-for-profit worlds.

Derreck Kayongo’s ability to motivate others to understand the role their work and skills can play in problem solving is one of the many reasons he was chosen as a finalist for the 2011 CNN Hero of the Year Award. Add to that the mantra of being a voice for the voiceless through his noble work of giving back, including dedicating his life to improving the lives of marginalized and vulnerable people across the globe: he has worked with the American Friends Service Committee as Program Director for the Southeast Peace Education program; joined Amnesty International as the Director of the Southeast Region; and currently serves as Senior Advocacy Coordinator for the Southeast region with CARE International.

In 2009, Kayongo and his wife Sarah embarked on a new journey pursuing their life-long passion of starting an NGO of their own. The Global Soap Project focuses on repurposing partially-used soap from hotels into new soap for needy populations, particularly in Africa. To date, The Global Soap Project has been able to donate 9,000 bars of soap to Swaziland, 5,000 bars to Kenya, 10,000 to Ghana, 1,000 to Uganda and another 3,000 to Haiti.

Derreck Kayongo is a proud naturalized U.S. citizen. He has been recognized as a 2011 CNN HEROES finalist and a COX Enterprise nominee; honored by Congressman John Lewis with a Certificate of Congressional Recognition; is currently writing his autobiography; has been featured in more than 20 news stories in the U.S., featured on Fox News as part of the Real American story series; featured on CNN with Fredricka Whitfield.

Since 1994, Derreck Kayongo has given more than 300 speeches on key issues related to poverty reduction in Africa; mainly on water and sanitation, soap, HIV/AIDS, Child Soldiers, Health and Sanitation, Impact of Landmines in Africa, Countries in Conflict and role of basic Education for Girls in Africa.

 
More Parenting Videos from Derreck Kayongo >
Enter your email to
download & subscribe
to our newsletter
  Listen or Watch
Must See First Year Videos
Three important rules about your baby's first foods
First year milestones
Postnatal depression and loneliness advice
Baby losing interest in nursing
The importance of spending quality time during early childhood
Narrating an infant's environment
Research based benefits of co-sleeping
Bonding versus attachment
Bonding with your baby after a less-than-perfect birth
Preventing postpartum depression
Play All 34 Videos
Featured Experts: Alan Greene, MD, Lawrence Kagan, MD, Barbara Olinger, MSW
More Playlists >
Transcription: 
When you are trying to teach your kids not to be wasteful, it is important not to be wasteful yourself. What do they say? Charity begins at home. Charity begins with us, individually, being responsible. If they see you being wasteful, they are going to be wasteful. It starts with you. Stop being wasteful in small ways. Don't give them a lot of food and say, "Finish your food. You didn't finish your food." I hear that all the time. My son said to me one time, "You are telling me to finish my food, but you gave me a lot of food. Give me a smaller portion and then I won't waste it." Maybe it's portioning. I want to use the word, portioning. Giving people enough and an understanding of what they can consume. Once we have an understanding of what we can consume, we take that portion piece very seriously. I see big portions in our society today. If you go to a restaurant, it's big portions. If you go to a football game, it's long hours, portions of time. Everything is big and huge. I think we need to go back to a small book that is called, "Small is Beautiful." I think people have heard about that book. Taking smaller things and looking at them in a beautiful way. They are beautiful, too. It comes to things like soap. I like to recycle soap. If you go to a hotel and you see they are throwing away soap, ask them about it. Let's recycle soap. Other things that you can recycle. Recycling is a big thing because it helps us save on resources. It starts with you. Number two, portioning, understanding your portions. That's how you start to teach kids how to be responsible.