Indigenous Perspectives into National Recycling Week
National Recycling Week, established by Planet Ark in 1996, is held every year during the second week of November (7th to 13th of November 2022).
This year, National Recycling Week explores the idea that Waste isn't Waste until it's Wasted. This theme focuses on quality over quantity; it is not about recycling more, but recycling better. Reducing our waste not only keeps valuable materials out of landfill it also benefits the environment by reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
The concept of recycling also provides the perfect platform to introduce children to the sustainable practices associated with Aboriginal ‘caring for Country’.
‘Country is everything. It’s family, it’s life, it’s connection’. — Jude Barlow, Ngunnawal Elder
Country is the word often used by Aboriginal peoples to describe the lands, waterways, seas, rocks, mountains; everything to which they are connected. It encompasses lore, place and identity, custom, language, spiritual belief and cultural practice.
National Recycling Week is all about sustainability, and is a great opportunity to extend on these ideas by exploring with children the various ways that Aboriginal groups have cared for their Countries for thousands and thousands of years. You could look at things like traditional fire management practices, land and waterways management and totems and kinship (linking to sustainable plant and animal populations).
For the younger kids, great books for this topic include Looking After Country with Fire, The Last Dance, Dingo’s Tree and Benny Bungarra’s Big Bush Clean Up.
