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TALKING TRASH, NOT!
Overview: By taking a look at our own trash, we learned a lot how and what we throw away. We learned about ways to cut down on the garbage we produce and the way that waste is managed in our community and other states.
In this activity, we talked about the different types of things we throw away. We talked about how we can help by recycling. We separated glass, paper, plastic and cans. We also were given an assignment to collect all our garbage in individual plastic bags, so we can figure out how much trash we accumulate in a month. By knowing this, we can be more conscious about the amount of waste we create.
By looking at grocery bought items, we observed different types of packaging, such as Styrofoam, plastic, aluminum, glass, paper, etc.
To show us how much of a problem waste can be if we don't recycle or watch our trash, Grace read us a story called the Voyage of the Mobro.
THE VOYAGE OF THE MOBRO
During the spring of 1987, the small town of Islip, New York hit national headlines. The media focused not on the people of the town, but rather on its garbage-nearly 3,200 tons of it. The landfills near Islip were filled beyond capacity, so Islip officials made a deal with Jones County, North Carolina, to handle Islip's trash.
When the Mobro-the barge transporting those tons of garbage from Islip-reached its destination, Jones County officials refused to accept the trash after determining that the cargo held hospital waste and other non-paper trash as well. Fearing contamination of county water supplies, the North Carolina County sent the Mobro away.
For four months, the barge traveled along the Atlantic Coast to the Gulf of Mexico trying to find a state willing to dispose of the garbage.
Unsuccessful, the Mobro even approached Mexico, Belize, and the Bahamas, but to no avail. The barge returned to dock at New York Harbor after a frustrating 6,000-mile (9,654-kilometer) voyage and awaited word from New York officials as to exactly what would become of its smelly cargo. A Brooklyn, New York, incinerator finally burned the garbage, reducing the volume to about 430 tons of ash, which was then dumped in a landfill back in Islip.
Then by using a map, each of us traced the voyage of the barge, Mobro.
Tabitha did the sample shown above.
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