Where does garbage go? What happens to the things we throw away?

Most of the household waste produced in North America ends up in landfills. Landfills are wide, deep pits dug in the earth. The garbage trucks that pick up your trash may deliver it to a landfill. At the landfill the trash is taken from the trucks and spread out. A layer of soil is then spread on top of the trash. This trash-soil sandwich continues to grow taller and taller until the landfill is filled up. Over time, some of the material in the landfill will biodegrade, or break down into useful parts that can be used by soil animals and plants. The time it takes for biodegradation to occur varies from a few days to many many years. Some items should not go into landfills because they are toxic or contain toxic parts. Many things that go into landfills could be reused or recycled. In the landfill they are wasted.

MATERIALS:

• four large clear glass jars
• soil
• food scraps such as apple core, banana peal, or potato peel
• waste paper, newsprint or cardboard
• either: aluminum can, steel can or small glass jar
• wast plastic item such as an old toothbrush, plastic holder from a 6-pack of cans, plastic wrap
• masking tape
• marker or crayon
• water

PROCEDURE

1. Collect the above items



2. Put a piece of masking tape on each jar and label the jars:
• organic
• renewable, recyclable
• nonrenewable, recyclable
• nonrenewable, hard to recycle


3. Questions:
   • Into which of the four solid waste categories does each of your collected trash items fit?
   • What would normally happen to each of the items you collected? Would it be thrown into the garbage and hauled to a landfill, burned on your property, recycled, reused?
   • How does the material an item is made of effect how you dispose of it?
   • If you want to reduce solid waste and save natural resources, which category or categories should you try and buy products from?
   
   
4. Fill each jar about half full with soil.
   
   
5. Put a small sample of each of your collected items into the appropriate jar.
   
   
6. Add enough soil to each jar to cover the trash inside.
   
   
7. Add water to each jar to make the soil damp.
   
   
8. Leave the jars uncovered and place them on a shelf away from people and out of direct sunlight. Stir each jar every day or two.
   
   
9. Recordkeeping: Predict what you think will happen to the trash in each jar.
   
   Record your predictions:
   
   • Observe the record any changes that occur over a 3 week period.
   • What happened to items mmade of organic and renewable resources?
   • What happened to items made of nonrenewable resources?
   • In what ways do you think a real landfill would be similar or different from your mini-landfills?
   • What things should not go into landfills? Can you think of ways to avoid using such items - possibly by substituting with different products? How could such items be disposed of in a more useful way?