I agree it's not easy, and maybe it's impossible with kids, but it's important to try. Here in CA, they make it ridiculously easy to separate everything and most people have gotten the hang of it. And kids are often the most indignant when their parents don't recycle.
The real problem we have is that China isn't buying any recyclables right now. Did you know they're all being shipped over there for processing? I was just aghast when I read that in the NY Times...
BTW, we have compostable plastic dishes now, though they only compost in large municipal composters. Amazing. Everything seems possible, but can we do it?

We recycle in our schools, and even though it isn't absolutley perfect, it does work. Each class has a paper recycling box, and a bucket. Into the bucket goes the plastic containers that pudding etc. comes in. Student rinse these out daily and add them to the recycling boxes. We have a recycling team consisting of 2 older students from the senior grades that come twice a week. They get 2 younger students from each class and the recycling boxes are sorted and emptied into big containers. These big bins are taken to the curb where they are emptied into the recycling trucks. It is a learning experience for everyone.

You are spot on Stuart! It cost to clean the environment. Most people aren't willing to go to the effort.

Our town recycles and it cost a lot. The company who picks up the recycle drives gas guzzling smoke spewing trucks. We could build a lot of parks and plant a lot of trees for what it cost us to recycle a bottle.

I would have ask the parent if she wanted to head up the program and be in charge of educating everyone. Of course she will say yes and then you'll end up with the whole thing and have to cancel the program cause the recycle bins got contaminated.

I don't like anyone coming to me unless they offer a solution and commitment to stick with if for a minimum of 10 years.

I recycle too :)

The classrooms at our school have recycle bins, as Crafty Gardener mentioned, and our kids are taught about recycling. We do many of the same things at home that you do, Stuart. I think it's a subject that our US kids are well aware of. Like anything else, it takes practice and persistence.
Now if we could just teach the kids not to waste so much food in the cafeteria! :) We could feed a lot of hungry people on what they throw out.

In response to the comments posted, I am the said teacher who was disappointed by the lack of recycling facilities at our school. I have a group of older students who form part of an "Organic Gardening" class, whose job it is to care for the wider environment, as well as establishing an organic vegetable garden on the school premises. I have suggested that they work together with all the classes to increase education and awareness, and be responsible for the successful management of the school's recycling. Of course it won't work if students are simply being told to recycle - if they don't see the intrinsic worth, then they won't continue. Successful recycling will come about by a change in attitudes and actions. Surely giving it a go is better than resigning ourselves to the fact that students don't recycle, and seeing countless amounts of recyclable waste being thrown away! I'm sure it will have its difficulties, but I have faith that these students (and staff) can learn to contribute positively to the environment. Many students rise to the occasion when given some responsibility, and I have no intention of leaving the burden to fall to Stuart! I'm sure many people are inconsistent in their approach to such projects, but I am a little disappointed at the suggestion that I'd "have to cancel the program cause the recycle bins got contaminated". I am 23, passionate about the environment, and passionate about teaching! If everyone gave up before they'd even tried, think about where we'd be. I know there have been difficulties in the past, but I think that involving students in a co-ordinated approach will prove to be more successful.

I'm not dealing with school yet, but my 18-month-old is learning about recycling. It's never too early to start, but we need to be diligent.

We do tend to take the path of least resistance, but I think it is a cultural thing rather than a human thing. When I lived in Germany the Germans would never ever consider NOT recycling. Nor would they warm up their cars or whatever-pollutes the air and is pointless. Just try to tell some American on a cold morning not to warm up their car. Ha! I was wondering about Australia and it sounds as though you are similar to the Americans-not thinking recycling. It is such a shame.

Our schools had recycling since I was old enough to remember. That puts it nearly 20 years ago.

Honestly, though, I don't know whether it was actually recycled or just dumped into the same place at the end.

To a certain extent, does it even matter? The first priority is to instill the habits.

That said, unfortunately, we don't recycle now because of the overhead - we would have to drive the recycling to an out-of-the way drop point during normal business hours (when we are, hello, at work). Regular trash pickup, however, is unlimited and cheap.

We do compost pretty religiously, since that isn't overly difficult.

If you want it to happen, it needs to be either easy or mandatory. Preferably both.