The Garbage Barge https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WrugoT8N5cE

Making Mountains out of Landfills

Here are some more surprising statistics about food consumption and waste in the United States today: 

1. Every year, Americans consume 2000 pounds of food and one-quarter of this ends up in a landfill. 

2. America produces 34 millions tons of food scraps per year. Four to 10 percent of all the food that we purchase ends up as kitchen waste.

3. That’s $40,000 to $100,000 of waste for every $1 million of food purchased due to overproduction, expiration, spoilage, handling, or post-consumer waste. 

4. Whereas historically, food scraps were separated out for garbage pick up and recycled as pig food whereas nowadays, leftovers end up in our regular trash can.

5. Every year, the United States generates approximately 230 million tons of "trash"- about 4.6 pounds per person per day.

6. Less than one-quarter of it is recycled; the rest is incinerated or buried in landfills which are getting closer to maxing out on their available space due to various legal restrictions.

Making Mountains out of Landfills - Vocab

landfill – a system of trash and garbage disposal in which the waste is buried between layers of earth to build up low-lying land

compost - a mixture largely of decayed matter of once living things (as grass) or their products (as coffee grinds) and used for fertilizing and conditioning land

solid waste - any discarded (abandoned or considered waste-like)materials. Includes household waste. Solid wastes can be solid, liquid, semi-solid or containerized gaseous material.

recyclables - fit for or capable of being recycled

Making Mountains out of Landfillshttp://thekidshouldseethis.com/post/17944993083

Video Discussion Questions

1. Why do you think landfilling is a cheap solution to our garbage output? 

2. What is the long-term impact of using landfills?

3. Why is there resistance to building more landfills?

4. What is meant by the “layered cake” analogy?

5. What solutions are being presented to relieve the pressure on landfills?

6. What kinds of trash did you notice in the film?

7. Did it seem familiar to you?

8. Does the garbage you see in your school or home seem similar or different? 

Parts of a Landfill - http://evergreenws.com/green-kids-corner/

What is the function of the follow parts of the landfill?

1. Clay

2. Plastic Liner

3. Leachate Collection Pipe

4. Geotextile Mat

5. Gravel

Decomposition

1. What is the most important thing decomposition?

2. What would happen if this ‘thing’ is not present in the landfill?

Methane to Energy

Why and how is methane created in a landfill?

What is methane gas composed of?

What is the potential risk of the methane gas?

What are the most efficient landfills doing with the methane gas?

Waste-to-Energy Plants

What are waste-to-energy plants?

This process is similar to the process of using coal for energy. Describe that process.