Morgan Williams, the fourth and fifth grade teacher at Glenwood Spring’s Two Rivers Community School took his students on a multi-disciplinary field trip last week. An adventure at the South Canyon Landfill served as an environmental lesson, as well as an opportunity to work on writing.
The kids tuck their heads into their shirts as they exit the school bus, hiding their noses from the stench on top of the trash heap.
King Lloyd is the landfill superintendent. He gives a history of the landfill to the students, and explains what the staff do to sort out the trash as it arrives. The students are enthralled as a large truck carrying construction debris dips its cargo onto the top of the landfill pile, and then a trash compactor drive a top it, breaking everything to pieces.
Along with learning about disposing, recycling, composting and reusing, the students are also learning analytical thinking skills. In the classroom, Williams asked his class to summarize what they’ve learned and write it in their journal.
Glenwood Springs’ landfill is unique; not many municipalities manage their own trash. It’s mostly a county task. Unlike the Pitkin County landfill’s imminent end of life, South Canyon still has about 50 years remaining. This week, the trash pile will move over into a natural basin tucked up against the mountain range. That hole will be filled in about eight months, then it’s over to the next basin. In about a decade, the landfill will expand vertically. What are now individual peaks will someday be filled in to make one flat butte - a literal mountain of trash.
To extend the life of the landfill, South Canyon also has on-site recycling and composting. In fact, the entire operation is a little eco system of reuse and “up-cycling” — or the repurposing of trash. Scrap metal is sorted out, crushed into big cubes and taken to Denver where it can be sold. Concrete scraps are crushed down, and used for traction in the winter when the landfill’s roads become icy. Tires and mattresses are shredded and placed on top of the trash pile periodically, helping to cover the garbage to keep it in place and act as a barrier against wildlife.
This week the students are learning about “up-cycling” by using trash to create wearable items for a fashion show. The field trip taught the kids that everyone needs to think more about where their trash goes.
