Recycling Centers and Landfills
4/7/2018
This week our Explores learned about where our trash goes after we throw it away. We went out into the community and saw first hand how trash is handled in Anchorage and we talked to experts about what makes Alaska's waste management system unique. On our field trip to the Anchorage Recycling Center, we saw where the different materials get piled and sorted. We saw forklifts, dump trucks, and loaders working to transfer and condense these piles. We learned that all of Alaska's recyclables (except for glass) get baled and sent out on empty barges to recycling centers out of state. We watched the big baling machine create a bale of cardboard and a bale of plastic bags. Our Explores liked looking at the different bales, colorful aluminum cans and dusty newspapers. To end the trip we sorted and recycled mixed trash from our school. Hearing the glass break inside the big dumpsters was a highlight for them! Field trips like this one, help our early kindergarteners understand in real ways their connection to the world around them. To be able to see and experience the huge piles of discarded trash, to see how much work goes into dealing with what we throw away, really helps connect them to problems that face our community and to begin to think about solutions. On Friday we had an expert, who works on the methane gas collection system at the Anchorage Landfill, visit our class and talk about the journey non-recyclable trash takes in our town - from garbage trucks, to transfer stations, and landfill building. He also talked to us about the gas byproduct our landfill creates and how this natural gas is collected and used at the power plant to provide electricity in our homes. Our Explorers are becoming keen learners and asked insightful questions about our garbage journey.
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April 2021
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