Contrary to what many might believe based on my blog posts thus far, school has been happening during this trip. On Monday, the class gave presentations on their first project, where they examined and compared solid waste policies for the United States and Europe and gave recommendations for policy changes that could be made to improve management practices. I apologize in advance to all the groups for the terrible sneaky iPhone photos I took of all of you as you were presenting.
First up was Erika, Kestral, Lindsey and Cat who talked about the organic fraction of our waste.
They taught us all about the differences in how the US and Europe handle organic waste including the fact that apparently, according to the EPA, yard waste is the same as a refrigerator when you're trying to dispose of it.
Next up was Neil, Lauren and Divya.
From them we learned all about how different packaging, including glass and plastic, is handled in the US and Europe. We learned that Belgians are really good at recycling glass, probably due to all the beer that they drink.
Next up were Sean, Dylan, Eli and Falconi who taught us about construction and demolition waste. They taught us that we might be able to learn a thing or two about sustainability from the ancient Romans as long as we're not too worried about the blood and sweat of serfs.
Next up were Matt, Emily, Ted and Maggie, who taught us about end of life vehicles and end of life tire disposal. From them we learned that cars are technical, therefore so was their presentation.
Finally came Dima, Danielle and Audriana.
They taught us about e-waste and reminded us of everyone's favorite quote about the environment, from the great Dr. Seuss.
Tuesday:
On Tuesday we had another technical field trip, this time to the EcoSerdiana landfill and cogeneration facility. Most of us had never been to a landfill before, so I think we were all surprised by the giant land area, relatively beautiful landscape and general lack of smelliness.
It was a really interesting site visit, led by two female engineers and changed a lot of our preconcieved notions about landfills.
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