A couple of weeks ago, my husband and I took a tour of our local solid waste facility and visited the landfill.
Said more simply: we went to the dump.
The term used to describe your local dump will vary depending on where you live.
For the sake of this article, I’m talking about the place where your trash is taken to after it’s picked up from your house. Or, if you don’t have residential pick-up, the place to where you bring it.
The visit was part of our goal to become more familiar with how our county handles trash and recycling, and what it’s doing to be eco-friendly.
After our tour of the local landfill, I got pretty excited about what I learned, and I posted a video to Facebook with tips for how to schedule a visit to your local landfill, and what to do when you go.
It wasn’t until several days later (and several views of the video), that my sister-in-law texted to say that she and my 11 year old nephew had just watched the video.
She said that, at the end of the video, she told him that they should schedule a visit. His response: “NO WAY!”
And that’s when I realized that I’d jumped the gun. I shouldn’t have posted a video with tips on how to schedule a visit to your local landfill. I should have made a video that explained why you’d WANT to go visit your local landfill in the first place.
So, here we go!
WHY YOU SHOULD VISIT YOUR LOCAL LANDFILL
1. YOU FIND OUT WHERE “AWAY” IS
The most important reason to visit your local landfill is to find the mythical land of “Away”.
As in, “Just throw it away“, “I threw it away“, or, “The trash gets hauled away.”
What we like about throwing stuff away is that we don’t see it anymore, and we don’t have to deal with it again. But the truth about trash is that it never goes “away”, it just goes somewhere else, where SOMEONE has to deal with it.
Going to your local landfill lets you see exactly where all your trash goes when you throw it into a garbage can or trash bag.
If you, or your friends and family, are having trouble with being eco-friendly and using less plastic, I can promise you that you’ll try harder after you see the mountain of trash at your local landfill.
When we watch documentaries or see news reports about plastic in the ocean, we think that this problem is someplace far away. Unfortunately—whether you live near the ocean or not—there’s a trash problem that’s local to you.
BTW “Out” is just another version of “away”, so when you “throw something out”, you’re still just transferring it somewhere else.
2. YOU SEE A LOT OF STUFF THAT ISN’T “TRASH”
It’s been said that Americans only recycle about 30% of recyclable items; tossing the remaining 70% into the “trash” container.
In one quick visit to the local landfill, you’ll see those stats with your own eyes.
In particular, I was astonished to see how many cardboard boxes were at my local dump. Here’s a photo of a recyclable cardboard box that someone took the time to break down, but then put into the trash bin!
Unfortunately, once the cardboard is put into the trash bin and picked up by the trash truck, it’s usually too contaminated (with dirt, grease, and liquids) to be salvaged. The only option the people at the dump have is to treat it like trash.
Like you, I have better ways to spend my time than breaking down cardboard boxes and sorting my recycling. But when I see how many recyclable items end up in the trash, I’m motivated to do it (I usually listen to a podcast while I’m doing it!).
PRO TIP When you have several cardboard boxes to break down for recycling, get the whole family into it! When all members of the household work together to help recycle waste, the process goes more quickly, and everyone feels more committed to being eco-friendly.
3. YOU GET A REFRESHER OF LOCAL RULES & REGULATIONS
I could go on and on about everything that I learned at my local facility; from what happens to the trash, to why we can’t recycle certain items in my neighborhood.
But the reason I’m suggesting that you schedule a visit to your local landfill is because every town does things differently.
My friend Jessica lives in a town in South Carolina, where (for reasons I don’t know) they don’t recycle glass bottles or jars.
In New York City, you can recycle lots of things that my facility here in Florida can’t process, which means those things go in my trash.
My local facility burns trash to produce energy, but their machinery still has a lot of limitations, which means every household needs to pay attention to what it’s putting in trash bins.
You can probably go on your town website to read the rules about your local trash and recycling, but those websites almost always leave you with questions. Visiting the facility, and meeting the staff, gives you the opportunity to ask questions in person.
4. YOU SEE YOUR TAX DOLLARS AT WORK
I never dreamed I’d be blogging about trash, recycling, and visiting a landfill. I also never though I’d be so impressed by how much I learned during my landfill visit.
I had no idea that my local facility is one of only 74 in the United States that burns trash to create energy.
I also didn’t know that yard waste (like leaves and tree branches that people put at the curb in my neighborhood) is turned into mulch and given away for free to anyone who wants it.
My husband and I learned about the solid waste facility’s contributions to building artificial reefs off the coast of Florida, and about the “Swap Store”, where residents can drop off and pick up unused/extra chemicals and paints (which are hazardous to dispose of in regular trash bins).
There were about 25 people who visited the landfill the day we were there, and the woman who gave the presentation was unbelievably knowledgeable and happy to answer questions (of which there were a LOT).
It made me feel a little better about what the county is doing, and informed me of the areas where it’s falling short. It was good to see my tax dollars in action, and to learn about how I can help to improve things (like buying sustainable products, recycling better, and contacting my local representatives).
CONCLUSION
I hope that this article helps you to understand why anyone would go to their local landfill, and why I’m suggesting that you do it. If you actually read through to this part of the article, you must be interested enough to do it!
And now that you understand why you schedule a visit, here’s a link to the Facebook video about how to set it up.
Save this article to Pinterest for others to find!
