Field Trips

We've had the privilege to get outside of our 4 walls and go on a few field trips lately. It has been fun meeting up with friends and doing things together. 

The recycling field was more interesting than I thought it would be. We started off the morning with our tour guide explaining how the landfill works. He told us there are pipes ran throughout the landfill that capture the methane gas that is created by the trash. It is then transferred to another part of their facility in the pipes and the methane is used to create electricity. He said this is not a process that every city has and it makes the city of Denton unique.

Before heading over to the recycling center, we stepped onto the truck scale to see how much our group weighed together. I was thinking around 1,800 pounds, but it was 2,620 pounds.

In the recycling center we learned about the process and how the materials are separated. Styrofoam is very similar to a glad plastic container, but it has air puffed into it, which makes it very light and airy. Since the recycling center is paid by the weight, it is not very cost effective to recycle the styrofoam since it is so light, so this is the main reason it is not recycled. He did tell us that at Chick-Fil-A they pull all of their styrofoam cups out of the trash and send them to a recycling center in Tennessee. They do not have to do this, but since they use so many of them, they are trying to be good stewards. Another reason to eat there!