No matter what part of the world you live in, today we celebrate Earth Day.

Today I'm sharing some brief thoughts about all things recycling and a fun family activity to upcycle your empties.

But let's start at the end. Every day is Earth Day.  :)

It's no secret that all topics related to Earth Day start to ramp up on social media leading up to April 22 every year and slowly fade into the background until the following year.

But it’s what is going on in the background all year long that matters.

We've made some changes here at RPB. You can read about them here. And we will continue to improve how we do things as we learn, grow and listen to your feedback.

Part of that learning process involves asking lots of questions. In the past several months, here is some of what I've learned regarding all things recycling:

• The topic of recycling is a sensitive one.

• Recycling efforts vary greatly depending on where you live in the world.

• Here in the US, recycling standards vary greatly by region, state and city.

• Some cities no longer allow glass to be recycled curbside due to the high cost of recovering it during the sorting process.

• All glass is recyclable but NOT all may be recycled due to freight costs and the color of the glass.

• More education is needed at the local level to teach all of us how to best recycle our plastic, glass and paper.

Ouch. Basically, I've learned that recycling has a drastic ebb and flow depending on where you live. Also, it can get really complicated and messy if you start digging around to learn more. 

But here's the great news!

There are two other buzz words that come up on Earth Day -- Reduce and Reuse.

Every year, I pick a fun activity to teach my son about the importance of doing our part to be kind to Mother Earth. The activity almost always involves reusing something to reduce the need to go buy something new.

This year we had fun reusing some empty RPB jars and bottles to make decorative little vases for flowers and holders for all things beauty.

This would make a great educational summer activity (using some of your RPB empties!) that kids can gift to their friends and loved ones.

What you'll need:

paper scraps

empty bottles/jars

decoupage glue

sponges to apply glue

There are tons of decoupage videos online, but we kept our activity very simple. We took our floral design, printed it on recycled paper and cut it to fit on our glass vessels. Check out one variation that we did and shared on Instagram.

Earth Day is a great day to shed light on how much more we can do to preserve and be kind to Mother Earth.

No matter where you live, I hope that you will join me in learning more about all the little things we can do together to make a difference!

Reduce. Reuse. Recycle.

Happy Earth Day!